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SPECULATION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature
Example:
the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge
Synonyms:
meditation; speculation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("speculation" is a kind of...):
contemplation; musing; reflection; reflexion; rumination; thoughtfulness (a calm, lengthy, intent consideration)
Derivation:
speculate (reflect deeply on a subject)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)
Example:
he dismissed it as mere conjecture
Synonyms:
conjecture; speculation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("speculation" is a kind of...):
hypothesis; possibility; theory (a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena)
Derivation:
speculate (to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
Synonyms:
conjecture; guess; hypothesis; speculation; supposition; surmisal; surmise
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("speculation" is a kind of...):
opinion; view (a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speculation"):
divination (successful conjecture by unusual insight or good luck)
Derivation:
speculate (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)
Sense 4
Meaning:
An investment that is very risky but could yield great profits
Example:
he knew the stock was a speculation when he bought it
Synonyms:
speculation; venture
Classified under:
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession
Hypernyms ("speculation" is a kind of...):
investment; investment funds (money that is invested with an expectation of profit)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speculation"):
gamble (money that is risked for possible monetary gain)
smart money (money bet or invested by experienced gamblers or investors (especially if they have inside information))
pyramid ((stock market) a series of transactions in which the speculator increases his holdings by using the rising market value of those holdings as margin for further purchases)
Derivation:
speculate (invest at a risk)
Context examples:
What this additional fortnight was to produce to her beyond the pleasure of sometimes seeing Henry Tilney made but a small part of Catherine's speculation.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
This flies in the face of the "alien megastructure" idea and the other more exotic speculations.
(Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust, NASA)
His young mind hungered for plain facts of life, after the long course of speculation and of mysticism on which he had been trained.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Yet it is hard,” she sometimes thought, “that this poor man cannot come to a house which he has legally hired, without raising all this speculation! I will leave him to himself.”
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
He asked me, what my thoughts and speculations were, while I lay in the monkey’s paw; how I liked the victuals he gave me; his manner of feeding; and whether the fresh air on the roof had sharpened my stomach.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The latest WISSARD announcement is the first to provide definitive evidence that a functional microbial ecosystem exists beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, confirming more than a decade of speculation about life in this environment.
(800 meters beneath Antarctic ice sheet, subglacial lake holds viable microbial ecosystems, NSF)
He would gladly weaken, by any fair means, whatever feelings or speculations concerning him might exist; and he went, therefore, to his brother's, meaning after a while to return to Kellynch, and act as circumstances might require.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Elinor, though she felt really interested in the welfare of Colonel Brandon, could not bestow all the wonder on his going so suddenly away, which Mrs. Jennings was desirous of her feeling; for besides that the circumstance did not in her opinion justify such lasting amazement or variety of speculation, her wonder was otherwise disposed of.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
He had to eat as he had never eaten before, to handle strange tools, to glance surreptitiously about and learn how to accomplish each new thing, to receive the flood of impressions that was pouring in upon him and being mentally annotated and classified; to be conscious of a yearning for her that perturbed him in the form of a dull, aching restlessness; to feel the prod of desire to win to the walk in life whereon she trod, and to have his mind ever and again straying off in speculation and vague plans of how to reach to her.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
