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speculate - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'speculate' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Speculate [ v. i.]
- 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.
- To view subjects from certain premises given or assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori.
- 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.
2 . Speculate [ v. t.]
- To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing.

Meaning of 'speculate' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . speculate [ v]
Meaning (1):
- invest at a risk
Example in sentence:
  • 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
Meaning (2):
- reflect deeply on a subject
Example in sentence:
  • 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
Meaning (3):
- to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
Example in sentence:
  • Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps
Meaning (4):
- 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 in sentence:
  • We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal

Nearby Words:

speak speakable speaker speakership speaking spear speared spearer spearfish spearhead

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