Library / English Dictionary

SPECULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reflect deeply on a subject

Example:

The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate

Synonyms:

chew over; contemplate; excogitate; meditate; mull; mull over; muse; ponder; reflect; ruminate; speculate; think over

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "speculate" is one way to...):

cerebrate; cogitate; think (use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speculate"):

premeditate (think or reflect beforehand or in advance)

theologise; theologize (make theoretical speculations about theology or discuss theological subjects)

introspect (reflect on one's own thoughts and feelings)

bethink (consider or ponder something carefully)

cogitate (consider carefully and deeply; reflect upon; turn over in one's mind)

question; wonder (place in doubt or express doubtful speculation)

puzzle (be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide)

consider; study (give careful consideration to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

speculation (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature)

speculative (showing curiosity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

Example:

Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

Synonyms:

conjecture; hypothecate; hypothesise; hypothesize; speculate; suppose; theorise; theorize

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "speculate" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speculate"):

construct; reconstruct; retrace (reassemble mentally)

develop; explicate; formulate (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They speculate that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

speculation (a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence))

speculative (not based on fact or investigation)

speculator (someone who makes conjectures without knowing the facts)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion

Example:

We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "speculate" is one way to...):

reason (think logically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speculate"):

guess; hazard; pretend; venture (put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation)

say; suppose (express a supposition)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

speculation (a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence)

speculative (not based on fact or investigation)

speculator (someone who makes conjectures without knowing the facts)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Invest at a risk

Example:

I bought this house not because I want to live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am speculating

Synonyms:

job; speculate

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "speculate" is one way to...):

commit; invest; place; put (make an investment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speculate"):

bull (try to raise the price of stocks through speculative buying)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

speculation (an investment that is very risky but could yield great profits)

speculative (not financially safe or secure)

speculator (someone who risks losses for the possibility of considerable gains)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“We knew that there had to be something exceptional going on in this system, and speculated that it may be related to some type of planetary remnant.”

(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)

Given the important role for RTK molecules in wound healing, the researchers speculate that DFT cancers may arise from errors in the maintenance of proliferative cells involved in tissue repair after injury.

(Human anti-cancer drugs could help treat transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils, University of Cambridge)

For black holes to become so large in the early universe, astronomers speculate there must have been special conditions to allow rapid growth — but the underlying reason remains mysterious.

(Most Distant Black Hole, NASA)

A month before it might have disgusted him, or made him curious and set him to speculating about her state of consciousness at that moment.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The authors speculated that children with more severe ADHD may have more pronounced brain differences.

(Atypical brain development observed in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms, National Institutes of Health)

He would always come back to his lost treaty, wondering, guessing, speculating, as to what Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst was taking, what news we should have in the morning.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The researchers go on to speculate that if simulation neurons became dysfunctional this could restrict social cognition, a symptom of autism.

(‘Mindreading’ neurons simulate decisions of social partners, University of Cambridge)

At this point, researchers can only speculate on why accepting your joyless emotions can defuse them, like dark clouds passing swiftly in front of the sun and out of sight.

(Embracing Darker Moods Makes You Feel Better, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The team speculated that perhaps the small dust grains adorning the surface of most comets eroded during `Oumuamua’s journey through interstellar space, with only larger dust grains remaining.

(ESO’s VLT Sees `Oumuamua Getting a Boost, ESO)

Earlier this year, Harvard researchers speculated that these radio bursts could be “beams set up by extragalactic civilizations to potentially power light sails.”

(Mysterious Radio Signals Detected from Deep Space, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)