speculate : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: speculate	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for speculate
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
speculate v to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps" Synonym(s): speculate, theorize, theorise, conjecture, hypothesize, hypothesise, hypothecate, suppose talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion; "We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal" reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate" Synonym(s): chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate invest at a risk; "I bought this house not because I want to live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am speculating" Synonym(s): speculate, job
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Speculate \Spec"ulate\, v. t. To consider attentively; as, to speculate* the nature of a thing. [R.] --Sir W. Hamilton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Speculate \Spec"ulate\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Speculated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Speculating}.] [L. speculatus, p. p. of speculari to spy out, observe, fr. specula a lookout, fr. specere to look. See {Spy}.] 1. To consider by turning a subject in the mind, and viewing it in its different aspects and relations; to meditate; to contemplate; to theorize; as, to speculate* on questions in religion; to speculate on political events. It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most pefect quietude to the external regulations of society. --Hawthorne. 2. (Philos.) To view subjects from certain premises given or assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori. 3. (Com.) To purchase with the expectation of a contingent advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit; -- often, in a somewhat depreciative sense, of unsound or hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, in sugar, or in bank stock.