as in hypothetical
existing only as an assumption or speculation
a speculative explanation of why this ancient pottery was found hundreds of miles from where it was made
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Recent Examples of speculative
The investments often comprised speculative Silicon Valley ventures, rather than sticking to traditional portfolios of infrastructure, real estate, or public equities that provided steady returns.
—
Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 9 June 2026
Authorities will target transactions aimed at distorting the market and conduct field inspections this week to determine whether participants are engaging in speculative trading, Moon Jisung, deputy finance minister for international affairs, said in a statement.
—Hooyeon Kim, Bloomberg, 9 June 2026
But even that speculative scheme showed how sophisticated PAU could be in adapting an assortment of seductive pasts.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 8 June 2026
This year marks the first-ever Nebula given for poetry, a welcome sign of the increasing breadth of talent in the speculative space.
—Drew Broussard, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for speculative
Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 9 June 2026
Authorities will target transactions aimed at distorting the market and conduct field inspections this week to determine whether participants are engaging in speculative trading, Moon Jisung, deputy finance minister for international affairs, said in a statement.
—Hooyeon Kim, Bloomberg, 9 June 2026
But even that speculative scheme showed how sophisticated PAU could be in adapting an assortment of seductive pasts.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 8 June 2026
This year marks the first-ever Nebula given for poetry, a welcome sign of the increasing breadth of talent in the speculative space.
—Drew Broussard, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for speculative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for speculative
Adjective
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In a hypothetical matchup, Ossoff led Collins by 7 percentage points in a poll conducted in early April by Echelon Insights.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
15 June 2026
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Star City takes us to the other side of the Iron Curtain, exploring this hypothetical scenario from the Soviet side.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Adjective
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The cycle resembled theoretical versions of a Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch, a scenario in which the universe’s expansion eventually reverses.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
13 June 2026
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Though theoretical predictions suggest quantum systems could accelerate AI optimization tasks by 10^6 or more for specific problem classes, quantum machine learning remains experimental.—
Chuck Brooks,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2026
Adjective
-
The first two questions are too hypothetical and conjectural.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
20 May 2026
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Projections of economic gains from major sporting events are typically optimistic, euphoric, chimerical or conjectural.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
19 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Speculative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/speculative. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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