speculate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speculātus, perfect active participle of speculor (“to watch, observe, examine, spy”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from specula (“a watchtower”), ultimately from speciō (“to look at”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛk.jʊˌleɪt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛk.jəˌleɪt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈspek.jəˌlæɪt/

Verb

speculate (third-person singular simple present speculates, present participle speculating, simple past and past participle speculated)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 13, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society.

3. (intransitive) To make an inference based on inconclusive evidence; to surmise or conjecture.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 171:

     We can speculate that in many instances the sharks are not feeding on their victims, but only in a few cases can we guess what they are doing.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].

4. (intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.
   • 1951 May, R. K. Kirkland, “The Cavan & Leitrim Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 345:

     Some preliminary legal arrangements were made, but the scheme proceeded no further, as the various local authorities concerned were unwilling to speculate public funds on what was, even at that date, a will o' the wisp.

5. (intransitive, programming) To anticipate which branch of code will be chosen and execute it in advance.

Anagrams

• peculates

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /spe.kuˈlaː.te/, [s̠pɛkʊˈɫ̪äːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /spe.kuˈla.te/, [spekuˈläːt̪e]

Participle

speculāte

1. vocative masculine singular of speculātus