Word of the Day

: July 18, 2019

speculate

verb SPEK-yuh-layt

What It Means

1 a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect

b : to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively

2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations

3 : to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence : theorize

4 : to be curious or doubtful about : wonder

speculate in Context

"Both celebrities have been tweeting each other for a while now, leading fans to speculate about their relationship status." — Suzette Fernandez, Billboard.com, 5 June 2019

"Live footage showed that two hundred firefighters were attempting to tame the flames. Meanwhile talking heads droned on and on, speculating about the source of the spark that destroyed the cathedral's wooden roof and nave or how many billions it would cost to rebuild." — Christopher Schaefer, Commonweal, 17 May 2019

Did You Know?

Speculate was adopted into English in the late 16th century from Latin speculatus, the past participle of the verb speculari, which means "to spy out" or "to examine." Speculari, in turn, derives from specula, meaning "lookout post," and ultimately from the Latin verb specere, meaning "to look (at)." Other conspicuous descendants of specere are inspect and suspect. Some less obvious descendants are the words despise, species, specimen, and as you may have speculated, conspicuous.