speculate
Americanverb (used without object)
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speculates,
present (3rd person singular)
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speculated,
past participle, past
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speculating
present participle
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to engage in thought or reflection; meditate (often followed by on, upon, or a clause).
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to indulge in conjectural thought.
- Synonyms:
- theorize, suppose, surmise, guess, conjecture
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to engage in any business transaction involving considerable risk or the chance of large gains, especially to buy and sell commodities, stocks, etc., in the expectation of a quick or very large profit.
verb
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(when tr, takes a clause as object) to conjecture without knowing the complete facts
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(intr) to buy or sell securities, property, etc, in the hope of deriving capital gains
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(intr) to risk loss for the possibility of considerable gain
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(intr) rugby to make an emergency forward kick of the ball without taking any particular aim
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overspeculateverb (used without object)
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prespeculateverb (used without object)
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unspeculatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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speculatesimple
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speculatessimple
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have speculatedperfect
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has speculatedperfect
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am speculatingprogressive
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are speculatingprogressive
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is speculatingprogressive
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have been speculatingperfect progressive
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has been speculatingperfect progressive
Past
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speculatedsimple
-
had speculatedperfect
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was speculatingprogressive
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were speculatingprogressive
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had been speculatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of speculate
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin speculātus “watched over,” past participle of speculārī “to watch over, explore, reconnoiter,” verb derivative of specula “watchtower,” noun derivative of specere “to look, regard, see”
Explanation
When you speculate, you use what you know to make a prediction about an outcome, like when you speculate that the injury of two key players will prevent your favorite team from going far in the playoffs this year. The verb speculate has a specialized meaning in the world of finance — it means to take a financial risk in the hopes of monetary gain. For example, a business owner may speculate that a brand-new kind of frozen yogurt will be really popular, so she buys a huge order of it for her ice cream store. Someone who speculates goes looking for the next big thing, as seen in the word's Latin origin, speculatus, meaning "to spy out, examine."
Vocabulary lists containing speculate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Common Senses: Spec, Spect, Spic ("Look")
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The Secret Life of Bees
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These are long-dated options contracts — a kind of long-term portfolio insurance that can also be used to speculate.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
“I speculate he saw that note or somehow figured out she was going to institutionalize him, but I have no idea.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
She added that all names provided would be treated "with the utmost discretion" and urges people not to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the baby's death.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
OCTOBER: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
I now began to speculate about what kind of man Mr. Hoffman was, and I found that I did not know him; that is, I did not know his basic attitude toward Negroes.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
"Our current findings suggest that in stress-associated psychiatric disorders such as depression, the CRH system in OPCs may play a greater role than previously known," Deussing speculates.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
Presented with a detailed list of this article’s findings, Rachel Cauley, the OMB’s communications director, asserted that “this story is false because it speculates about policies that have not yet been decided.”
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2026
News coverage speculates about a "new tone" from the president.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
But he says more than 100 writers have reached out to say they want to be part of the case since it was filed, and speculates that the total number could be in the thousands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Sleight speculates that Ruess inscribed this Nemo not long after departing Davis Gulch.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
A fourth customer, revealed in July, is speculated by some analysts to be the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Shortly after Muniz’s post, Price posted an Instagram story with a message that some followers speculated may be a response to the actor’s admission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Investors and banking industry executives have privately speculated the bank could be poised to acquire a smaller lender.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Poring over the CPI numbers, many economists now think that the core version of the PCE price index rose by 0.3% last month, a pace many Fed watchers have speculated could trigger a rate hike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
At first the men had speculated about how soon they could possibly expect a rescue ship.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
It began with small accounts on social media speculating or claiming that Talarico was out not because he was physically ill but because he was mentally ill.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Not to be outdone, Mr. Hinton has been speculating for a couple of years about the prospect for total human extinction at the hands of AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Wall Street had been speculating whether Meta would begin leasing out its data-center capacity as a way of monetizing its AI infrastructure in a highly profitable manner.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Booker added: "We would urge people to please avoid the area where possible to allow emergency services to work efficiently and safely, and refrain from speculating on the circumstances of the incident."
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Although the press in South Africa and around the world had been speculating for weeks that my release was imminent, Mr. de Klerk’s announcement nevertheless came as a surprise to me.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
