speculate
/'spekjuleit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb:
- To form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence: To think about something and make guesses about it, often without having all the facts.
- To invest in stocks, property, or other ventures in the hope of gain but with the risk of loss: To buy or trade in something with the primary goal of making a profit from future price changes, rather than for use or long-term income.
Usage
- As a verb meaning "to conjecture or theorize":
- This use is common in academic, scientific, and everyday contexts when discussing ideas, reasons, or outcomes.
- Example Structure:
to speculate on/about/that/as to why/whether...
- As a verb meaning "to invest riskily for potential profit":
- This use is specific to financial and economic contexts.
- Example Structure:
to speculate in/on (a market, commodity, stock)
Examples
- Meaning: To conjecture:
- Journalists can only speculate about the reasons for the minister's sudden resignation.
- We sat around speculating as to whether they would get married.
- The book speculates that the artist's travels deeply influenced his later work.
- Meaning: To invest riskily:
- He made his money by speculating on the London property market.
- It is dangerous to speculate in cryptocurrencies if you cannot afford to lose the money.
Advanced Usage
- Speculative (adjective): Based on conjecture rather than knowledge. Also, involving high-risk financial investment.
- His conclusions were purely speculative. (conjecture)
- Speculative investments carry a high degree of risk. (financial)
- Speculation (noun): The act or instance of speculating.
- There has been widespread speculation in the press about the election.
- The boom was driven by reckless speculation in housing.
Variants and Related Words
- Speculator (noun): A person who speculates financially.
- Property speculators bought up land ahead of the new road construction.
- Speculatively (adverb): In a speculative manner.
- She looked at him speculatively, wondering what he was thinking.
Synonyms
- Conjecture: To form an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence.
- Theorize: To form a theory or theories about something.
- Hypothesize: To put forward a hypothesis.
- Gamble (financial sense): To take risky action in the hope of a desired result.
- Venture (financial sense): To dare to do something or go somewhere that may be dangerous or unpleasant; also, to risk money in a business undertaking.
Phrasal Verbs / Common Collocations
- Speculate on/about something: To form guesses or theories about a topic.
- Economists are speculating about the impact of the new policy.
- Speculate in something: To invest money in a particular asset or market.
- He speculated in oil futures.
Related Idioms
- Engage in speculation: This is a formal phrase for the act of speculating, common in both intellectual and financial contexts.
- The article encourages readers to engage in speculation about future technologies.
- The law aimed to reduce risky engagement in speculation by banks.
Verb
- invest at a risk
- I bought this house not because I want to live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am speculating
- reflect deeply on a subject
- I mulled over the events of the afternoon
- philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years
- The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate
- talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion
- We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal
- to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
- Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps