Definitions for: Speculate


[v] 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; "We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal"
[v] reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate"
[v] to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps."
[v] invest at a risk; "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"



Webster (1913) Definition: Spec"u*late, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Speculated; p.
pr. & vb. n. Speculating.] [L. speculatus, p. p. of
speculari to spy out, observe, fr. specula a lookout, fr.
specere to look. See Spy.]
1. To consider by turning a subject in the mind, and viewing
it in its different aspects and relations; to meditate; to
contemplate; to theorize; as, to speculate on questions in
religion; to speculate on political events.

It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most
boldly often conform with the most pefect quietude
to the external regulations of society. --Hawthorne.

2. (Philos.) To view subjects from certain premises given or
assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori.

3. (Com.) To purchase with the expectation of a contingent
advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit; --
often, in a somewhat depreciative sense, of unsound or
hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, in
sugar, or in bank stock.


Spec"u*late, v. t.
To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a
thing. [R.] --Sir W. Hamilton.

Synonyms: chew over, conjecture, contemplate, excogotate, hypothecate, hypothesise, hypothesize, job, meditate, mull, mull over, muse, ponder, reflect, ruminate, suppose, theorise, theorize, think over

See Also: anticipate, bethink, brood, bull, cerebrate, cogitate, commit, consider, construct, develop, dwell, expect, explicate, formulate, guess, hazard, introspect, invest, place, premeditate, put, puzzle, question, reason, reconstruct, retrace, say, study, suppose, theologise, theologize, think, venture, wonder, worry

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