speculate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speculātus, past participle of speculor (“look out”), from specula (“watchtower”), from specio (“look at”)

Verb

speculate (third-person singular simple present speculates, present participle speculating, simple past and past participle speculated)

  1. (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.
  2. (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; […].
  3. (intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.
  4. (intransitive, programming) To anticipate which branch of code will be chosen and execute it in advance.

Translations

Further reading

  • speculate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • speculate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

Italian

Verb

speculate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of speculare
  2. second-person plural imperative of speculare
  3. feminine plural of speculato

Latin

Participle

speculāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of speculātus
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