speculate

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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

Verb

1. (obsolete, 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.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 171:

     We can speculate that in many instances the sharks are not feeding on their victims, but only in a few cases can we guess what they are doing.

   • 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.

Related terms

• species
• spectacle
• spectacular
• speculation
• speculative
• speculator

Translations

to meditate

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉思 (zh) (chénsī)

• Danish: spekulere
• Finnish: pohtia (fi), pohdiskella (fi)
• French: spéculer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: spekulieren (de), Vermutungen anstellen
• Italian: cogitare (it), meditare (it), escogitare (it)
• Maori: kohuki, whakaaroaro
• Russian: размышля́ть (ru) (razmyšljátʹ), де́лать предположе́ния (délatʹ predpoložénija)
• Swedish: spekulera (sv)

to make an inference based on inconclusive evidence

• Danish: gætte
• Finnish: arvailla (fi), jossitella (fi)
• German: vermuten (de)
• Ido: spekular (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: berspekulasi (id)
• Italian: speculare (it), approfittare (it), elucubrare (it), abusare (it)
• Russian: предполага́ть (ru) (predpolagátʹ)

to make a risky trade

• Czech: spekulovat (cs)
• Danish: spekulere
• Finnish: keinotella (fi), spekuloida (fi)
• French: spéculer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: spekulieren (de)
• Italian: speculare (it), giocare (it), investire (it), approfittarsi
• Russian: спекули́ровать (ru) (spekulírovatʹ)
• Swedish: spekulera (sv)

Further reading

• “speculate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “speculate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• peculates

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Italian

Verb

speculate

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

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /spe.kuˈlaː.te/, [s̠pɛkʊˈɫ̪äːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /spe.kuˈla.te/, [spekuˈläːt̪e]

Participle

(deprecated template usage) speculāte

1. vocative masculine singular of speculātus