speculate
verb
intransitive verb
transitive verb
Did you know?
Speculate was adopted into English in the late 16th century from Latin speculatus, the past participle of the verb speculari, which means "to spy out" or "to examine." Speculari, in turn, derives from specula, meaning "lookout post," and ultimately from the Latin verb specere, meaning "to look (at)." Other conspicuous descendants of specere are inspect and suspect. Some less obvious descendants are the words despise, species, specimen, and as you may have speculated, conspicuous.
Synonyms
- assume
- conjecture
- daresay
- guess
- imagine
- presume
- suppose
- surmise
- suspect
- suspicion [chiefly dialect]
Example Sentences
Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 7 Sep. 2022 Fans jumped to the comments section to speculate on what could be happening. Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 7 Sep. 2022 Chalmers didn’t care to speculate on why more people are looking for jobs, other than rising inflation rates may be driving people back to the job market. William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 6 Sep. 2022 Dicebreaker, reports the card was sold for $10,500 in April 2009 — though some speculate the card's existence is nothing but an April Fools' joke. Jacob Livesay, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2022 The monkeypox virus, which has now been diagnosed in hundreds of people in 26 countries, may have been quietly circulating for years before its sudden emergence worldwide, some scientists speculate. Benjamin Ryan, NBC News, 4 June 2022 Scientists speculate that the difference in sensitivity to social media could be linked to puberty, which normally happens earlier in girls. Nick Morrison, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2022 Some analysts speculate the kingdom and its partners have extremely limited spare capacity after ramping up their output in recent months. Evan Halper, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2022 Some people speculate that the closures are a response to baristas’ efforts to unionize. Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker, 30 July 2022 See More Word History
Latin speculatus, past participle of speculari to spy out, examine, from specula lookout post, from specere to look, look at — more at spy
1599, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a
Kids Definition
speculate
verb
Legal Definition
speculate
verb
intransitive verb
Note: A jury is not permitted to speculate on a matter about which insufficient evidence has been presented in reaching its verdict.
transitive verb
speculate
verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- guess
- assume
- suppose
- surmise
- suspect
- think
- presume
- imagine
- conjecture
- believe
- suspicion
- infer
- conclude
- daresay
- expect
- deduce
- hypothesize
- theorize
- gather
- reckon
- judge
- conceive
- hypothecate
- take
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- prove
- demonstrate
- validate
- establish
- determine
- substantiate
- ascertain
- learn
- document
- find out
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of speculate are cogitate, deliberate, reason, reflect, and think. While all these words mean "to use one's powers of conception, judgment, or inference," speculate implies reasoning about things theoretical or problematic.
In some situations, the words cogitate and speculate are roughly equivalent. However, cogitate implies deep or intent thinking.
The synonyms deliberate and speculate are sometimes interchangeable, but deliberate suggests slow or careful reasoning before forming an opinion or reaching a conclusion or decision.
Although the words reason and speculate have much in common, reason stresses consecutive logical thinking.
While the synonyms reflect and speculate are close in meaning, reflect suggests unhurried consideration of something recalled to the mind.
The meanings of think and speculate largely overlap; however, think is general and may apply to any mental activity, but used alone often suggests attainment of clear ideas or conclusions.