Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Speculate
Spec′u-late
,Verb.
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 stockSpec′u-late
,Verb.
T.
To consider attentively;
as, to
. speculate
the nature of a thing[R.]
Sir W. Hamilton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Speculate
SPEC'ULATE
,Verb.
I.
1.
To meditate; to contemplate; to consider a subject by turning it in the mind and viewing it in its different aspects and relations; as, to speculate on political events; to speculate on the probable results of a discovery.2.
In commerce, to purchase land, goods, stock or other things, with the expectation of an advance in price, and of selling the articles with a profit by means of such advance; as, to speculate in coffee, or in sugar, or in six percent stock, or in bank stock.Definition 2024
speculate
speculate
English
Verb
speculate (third-person singular simple present speculates, present participle speculating, simple past and past participle speculated)
- (intransitive) To think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.
- Hawthorne
- It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society.
- Hawthorne
- (intransitive) To make an inference based on inconclusive evidence; to surmise or conjecture.
- 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
- It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
-
- (intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.
Related terms
Translations
to meditate
|
to make an inference based on inconclusive evidence
to make a risky trade
|
|
External links
- speculate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- speculate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911