as in to speculate
to think of or suggest ideas about what is possibly true or real; to form or suggest a theory about something
Many scientists have theorized about the possibility of life on other planets.
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Recent Examples of theorize
Leadership researchers have begun to theorize leadership energy as a core force underlying sustained leader effectiveness, suggesting that leaders’ energy, communicated through nonverbal cues and language choices, influences long-term performance and resilience.
—
Cheryl Robinson, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
The researchers theorized that if bats picked up on the Doppler effect, then the direction that the foliage treadmill was moving in would affect how fast the animals flew.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026
Cabrera theorized the killings occurred around dusk on Saturday and the Jacobs’ bodies lay undiscovered until Monday morning.
—Graham Womack
updated January 15, Sacbee.com, 16 Jan. 2026
Apple does not allow partners to train on Apple user data, and Mudassir theorized that Apple may have concluded Google’s control over its ecosystem—such as owning its own cloud—could provide data privacy and intellectual property guarantees that perhaps OpenAI or Anthropic couldn’t match.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for theorize
Cheryl Robinson, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
The researchers theorized that if bats picked up on the Doppler effect, then the direction that the foliage treadmill was moving in would affect how fast the animals flew.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026
Cabrera theorized the killings occurred around dusk on Saturday and the Jacobs’ bodies lay undiscovered until Monday morning.
—Graham Womack
updated January 15, Sacbee.com, 16 Jan. 2026
Apple does not allow partners to train on Apple user data, and Mudassir theorized that Apple may have concluded Google’s control over its ecosystem—such as owning its own cloud—could provide data privacy and intellectual property guarantees that perhaps OpenAI or Anthropic couldn’t match.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for theorize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for theorize
speculate
Verb
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Multiple people close to the situation had stated or speculated that an official request had been sent, and the president himself had said that Combs had asked for clemency, but Thursday’s report was the first official confirmation of the letter’s existence.—
Jem Aswad,
Variety,
8 Jan. 2026
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Some speculated that Harbaugh could take a year off, but his brother, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim, ruled that out on Wednesday.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Theorize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/theorize. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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