SPECULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does speculate mean? 

• SPECULATE (verb)
  The verb SPECULATE has 4 senses:

1. to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

2. 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

3. reflect deeply on a subject

4. invest at a risk

  Familiarity information: SPECULATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPECULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they speculate    ... he / she / it speculates   
Past simple: speculated   
Past participle: speculated   
-ing form: speculating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

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 2

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

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

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 3

Meaning:

Reflect deeply on a subject

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate

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 4

Meaning:

Invest at a risk

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

job; speculate

Context 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

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)

 Context examples 

This, researchers speculate, allows the brain to choose just one of the two images to work with.

(Arrangement of light receptors in the eye may cause dyslexia, Wikinews)

I am afraid to speculate on what it is. Tell me, my dear.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) speculate that biologic age may be tied to environmental exposures.

(Older biologic age linked to elevated breast cancer risk, National Institutes of Health)

The team speculates that this process may be not only common, but also essential to understanding galaxy formation.

(ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain, ESO)

The researchers speculate that because companion animals offer unqualified acceptance, their presence makes the children feel more secure.

(Animals’ presence may ease social anxiety in kids with autism, NIH)

What is the use of our speculating in this way when the original plans were actually found on West?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Therefore, the authors speculated that glutamine supplementation might increase T-cell function and improve infection control.

(Glutamine suppresses herpes in mice and guinea pigs, National Institutes of Health)

The researchers have speculated this upwelling pattern may have occurred repeatedly during the volcanic process that produced the Hawaiian Island chain.

(Scientists report skyrocketing phyotplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption, Wikinews)

This led astronomers to speculate that such "outbursts," which can send material hundreds of miles above the surface, might be much more common than they thought.

(A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io, NASA)

These inner gaps have been known about for decades and it has been speculated that they were produced by disc-planet interaction.

(First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet, ESO)