1. (v. i.) To consider; to meditate; to contemplate; to theorize; as, to speculate on questions in religion; to speculate on political events.
2. (v. i.) To view subjects from certain premises given or assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori.
3. (v. i.) To purchase with the expectation of a contingent advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit; -- often, in a somewhat depreciative sense, of unsound or hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, in sugar, or in bank stock.
4. (v. t.) To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing.
Thesaurus Entries
be abstracted, be caught short, be short, belong, brood, bucket, bucketshop, buy in, buy into, call, cast a horoscope, cast a nativity, cast lots, cerebrate, chew over, chew the cud, cogitate, consider, contemplate, cut lots, cut the cards, debate, deliberate, deposit margin, digest, divine, dope, dope out, dowse for water, draw lots, draw straws, entertain a theory, espouse a theory, evaluate, excogitate, financier, forebode, forecast, foresee, foretell, fortune-tell, gamble, game, go long, guess, hariolate, have a theory, hold on, hypothesize, introspect, invest, invest in, judge, lay out money, lot, make a killing, make a prediction, make a prognosis, make a prophecy, make a scoop, make an investment, margin up, match coins, meditate, miss the market, mull over, muse, operate, overstay the market, perpend, place, play, play around with, play at dice, play the market, play the ponies, play with, plow back into, plunge, ponder, ponder over, postulate, predict, prefigure, presage, prognosticate, prophesy, put, pyramid, raffle off, read palms, read tea leaves, read the future, reason, reflect, reinvest, review, risk, ruminate, scalp, scoop the market, shoot craps, sink, sink money in, soothsay, sport, stag, stag the market, study, take a chance, take a flier, tell fortunes, tell the future, theorize, toss, toy with, trade on margin, vaticinate, venture, wager, weigh, wonder about
