Word of the Day

: March 12, 2008

speculate

verb SPEK-yuh-layt

What It Means

1 a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect

b : to think or theorize about something in which evidence is too slight for certainty to be reached

2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations

speculate in Context

Mia's abrupt firing caused her coworkers to speculate endlessly about what she might have done wrong.

Did You Know?

"Speculate" was adopted into English in the late 16th century from Latin "speculatus," the past participle of the verb "speculari," which means "to spy out" or "to examine." "Speculari," in turn, derives from "specula," meaning "lookout post," and ultimately from the Latin verb "specere," "to look (at)." Other conspicuous descendants of "specere" are "inspect" and "suspect." Some less obvious descendants are the words "despise," "species," "specimen," and, as you may have speculated, "conspicuous."