How to Use speculate in a Sentence

speculate

verb
  • He speculated as to whether she would come.
  • We don't know what happened—we can only speculate.
  • She could only speculate about her friend's motives.
  • The piece speculates that the drop marks the transformation of Saydnaya from a prison to a death camp.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
  • Many have speculated over the meaning of the pieces and how many there will be in total.
    Raven Brunner, Peoplemag, 12 Aug. 2024
  • Cyrus doesn't name names, but fans didn't take long to speculate whether the song is about her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth.
    Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Investors started to speculate the whole thing might be a scam.
    Joel Khalili, WIRED, 15 Apr. 2024
  • It has been speculated to be his last, even by Allen, who is 88.
    Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2024
  • The rest of the video speculated about what kind of train car the new ride might use, and how a lighter one, made of a lighter metal, might make the ride even better.
    Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 28 July 2023
  • But the coach wouldn't go as far as to speculate whether White could be the long-term answer at quarterback.
    Dennis Waszak Jr., BostonGlobe.com, 26 Dec. 2022
  • Lindy’s speculated that the Tide might run the ball more this season, even with Jahmyr Gibbs gone.
    Matt Stahl | Mstahl@al.com, al, 11 July 2023
  • Her same-day announcement of the split spurred fans of the couple to speculate that Hardrict had cheated on Mowry.
    Nasha Smith, Peoplemag, 15 Mar. 2023
  • To speculate on that would be science fiction—fun, but not very meaty.
    Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Johnson speculated that the impact of the bus hitting the building had caused the injuries.
    Kerry Breen, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Late last season, Wilson was benched amid a tough year with the team that many speculated would be his last.
    Ilana Kaplan, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Now looks like the right time to speculate with options, too, which are affordably priced.
    Schaeffer's Investment Research, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
  • In the meantime, lucky for us, physicists love to speculate how the universe began.
    Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 14 Mar. 2023
  • It was long speculated that Locke had been cast to play Billy.
    Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
  • The videos racked up millions of views, and many people in her comments speculated why a rug would be buried in her yard.
    Landon Mion, Fox News, 5 Oct. 2024
  • In the meantime, Whitesburg, Letcher County and the rest of the region have been left only to speculate.
    Lucas Aulbach, The Courier-Journal, 22 Sep. 2024
  • That spark of hope has led some economists to speculate on not if, but when those rate cuts may begin.
    Anne Marie Lee, CBS News, 5 Jan. 2024
  • The team speculates that the trilobite may have been molting, which could explain the feeding frenzy.
    Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 Sep. 2023
  • And since the controllers can be removed, Windows Report speculates that the screen is a touchscreen.
    Jay Peters, The Verge, 17 Aug. 2023
  • That made some analysts speculate that the Bank of Japan would soon be forced to raise interest rates.
    Ben Dooley, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2023
  • The print could be set to match her serpent theme, or in reference to Bryan Fury, also from Tekken, fans speculate.
    Solcyré Burga, TIME, 10 May 2024
  • Last month, fans speculated that the album was leaked by Kanye West (a.k.a Ye), which Sean debunked.
    Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 14 Aug. 2024
  • The mother of the Mayfield Heights boy speculated that her son must have snuck out a basement window.
    cleveland, 4 Sep. 2023
  • And yet, many speculate that Putin will do exactly that.
    Anna Nemtsova, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2024
  • All the while, marine experts had been speculating about the whale’s origin.
    Ferris Jabr, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2024
  • Many investors speculated that Trump could dump his shares when the lock-up restrictions preventing insiders from selling lapsed.
    Matt Egan, CNN, 14 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speculate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: