| Library / English Dictionary |
SPECULATIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Showing curiosity
Example:
raised a speculative eyebrow
Synonyms:
inquisitive; questioning; speculative; wondering
Classified under:
Similar:
curious (eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about others' concerns))
Derivation:
speculate (reflect deeply on a subject)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not based on fact or investigation
Example:
speculative knowledge
Synonyms:
notional; speculative
Classified under:
Similar:
theoretic; theoretical (concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations)
Derivation:
speculate (to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds)
speculate (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)
speculativeness (the quality of being a conclusion or opinion based on supposition and conjecture rather than on fact or investigation)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not financially safe or secure
Example:
speculative business enterprises
Synonyms:
bad; high-risk; risky; speculative
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unsound (not sound financially)
Derivation:
speculate (invest at a risk)
speculativeness (financial risk)
Context examples:
The Northern Review, after publishing The Cradle of Beauty, had written him for half a dozen similar essays, which would have been supplied out of the heap, had not Burton's Magazine, in a speculative mood, offered him five hundred dollars each for five essays.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I had hitherto seen only one side of the academy, the other being appropriated to the advancers of speculative learning, of whom I shall say something, when I have mentioned one illustrious person more, who is called among them the universal artist.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
