SPECULATOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does speculator mean? 

• SPECULATOR (noun)
  The noun SPECULATOR has 2 senses:

1. someone who makes conjectures without knowing the facts

2. someone who risks losses for the possibility of considerable gains

  Familiarity information: SPECULATOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPECULATOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who makes conjectures without knowing the facts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("speculator" is a kind of...):

thinker (someone who exercises the mind (usually in an effort to reach a decision))

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who risks losses for the possibility of considerable gains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

plunger; speculator

Hypernyms ("speculator" is a kind of...):

adventurer; venturer (a person who enjoys taking risks)

gambler (a person who wagers money on the outcome of games or sporting events)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speculator"):

hedger (someone who counterbalances one transaction (as a bet) against another in order to protect against loss)

operator (a speculator who trades aggressively on stock or commodity markets)

scalper (someone who buys something and resells it at a price far above the initial cost)

venture capitalist (a speculator who makes money available for innovative projects (especially in high technology))

Derivation:

speculate (invest at a risk)

 Context examples 

In another, the ground was cumbered with rusty iron monsters of steam-boilers, wheels, cranks, pipes, furnaces, paddles, anchors, diving-bells, windmill-sails, and I know not what strange objects, accumulated by some speculator, and grovelling in the dust, underneath which—having sunk into the soil of their own weight in wet weather—they had the appearance of vainly trying to hide themselves.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)