speculative
Americanadjective
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pertaining to, of the nature of, or characterized by speculation, contemplation, conjecture, or abstract reasoning.
a speculative approach.
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theoretical, rather than practical.
speculative conclusions.
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given to speculation, as persons, the mind, etc.
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of the nature of or involving commercial or financial speculation.
speculative ventures.
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engaging in or given to such speculation.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- antispeculative adjective
- antispeculatively adverb
- antispeculativeness noun
- hyperspeculative adjective
- hyperspeculatively adverb
- hyperspeculativeness noun
- nonspeculative adjective
- nonspeculatively adverb
- nonspeculativeness noun
- overspeculative adjective
- overspeculatively adverb
- overspeculativeness noun
- semispeculative adjective
- semispeculatively adverb
- semispeculativeness noun
- speculatively adverb
- speculativeness noun
- unspeculative adjective
Etymology
Origin of speculative
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Late Latin word speculātīvus. See speculate, -ive
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.
Further near-term price gains are also likely, with speculator long positions as a share of total open interest on CME are not as extreme as in previous speculative peaks, they say.
Ultimately, the massive speculative capital spending is delivering the exact opposite of what a bond investor requires: safety, certainty and frugality.
From Barron's
Goldman defines speculative trading based on the share of volume in unprofitable stocks, penny stocks and those companies where the enterprise value to sales is higher than 10.
From MarketWatch
At most, these should be considered speculative side bets, not core investment holdings.
Fairly early in his lengthy investment career, in the mid-1960s, this thrifty son of Yorkshire, England, grew besotted with speculative small-cap stocks.
From Barron's
Definitions 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.
