speculation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of speculation in Oxford dictionary? ›

noun. /ˌspɛkyəˈleɪʃn/ 1[uncountable, countable] the act of forming opinions about what has happened or what might happen without knowing all the facts speculation (that…)

But the origins of speculate lie not in thinking but in looking—the word comes from Latin specere, meaning “to look,” or “to look at.” We don't have to look far to find other specere descendants, and we'll point them out here with some italics: a cursory inspection reveals spectacle, spectrum, specimen, and perspective ...

1. : thoughts or guesses about something. much speculation about who the new teacher would be. 2. : the taking of a big risk in business in hopes of making a big profit.

Etymology. From Middle English, borrowed from Old French speculatif or directly from Late Latin speculativus, from Latin speculor.

1 : to theorize on the basis of insufficient evidence NOTE: A jury is not permitted to speculate on a matter about which insufficient evidence has been presented in reaching its verdict. 2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain. ;esp. : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations. vt.

In the world of finance, speculation, or speculative trading, refers to the act of conducting a financial transaction that has substantial risk of losing value but also holds the expectation of a significant gain or other major value.

This word is a noun and comes from the Greek theoria, which means "contemplation or speculation." Definitions of theory.

Speculation in stock trading often hurts a stock, rather than helps it. Speculation often leads to panic in volatile markets. Losing investors start to sell off their positions, which causes their stocks to go down even further, which leads to even more selling and so on.

speculation (countable and uncountable, plural speculations) (obsolete) The faculty of sight. (obsolete) An act of looking at something; examination, observation. The process or act of thinking or meditating on a subject. (philosophy) The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.

What is the meaning of speculation in Cambridge Dictionary? ›

speculation noun [C or U] (GUESS)

the activity of guessing possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain: Rumours that they are about to marry have been dismissed as pure speculation. Speculation about his future plans is rife.

“Speculation” originally meant “reflective observation.” It came to mean “conjecture” or “mere conjecture” as philosophers strove for certainty, consecrating science as rigorously acquired knowledge accumulated through application of the scientific method, and devalued the cognitive status of other discourses.

The earliest known use of the noun speculation is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for speculation is from around 1374, in a translation by Geoffrey Chaucer, poet and administrator. speculation is a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin speculātiōn-em.

noun. a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence) “speculations about the outcome of the election” synonyms: conjecture. hypothesis, possibility, theory.

As you see, speculation has NO evidence, just thought. Speculation: "The forming of a theory, or conjecture without form evidence." This isn't a theory, as it has no proof, but if it does, then it forms into a theory.

speculate verb [I] (GUESS)

to form opinions about something without having the necessary information or facts; to make guesses: I'm just speculating about what happened.

For example, a speculator expects the value of a particular share to fall from $10 to $8. So, he/she will borrow some shares and sell them at the current price of $10 and when the prices go down to $8 he will buy them back at $8 earning him a profit.

Definitions of speculate. verb. reflect deeply on a subject. “philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years” synonyms: chew over, contemplate, excogitate, meditate, mull, mull over, muse, ponder, reflect, ruminate, think over.