Verb speculate has 4 senses
  1. speculate, theorize, theorise, conjecture, hypothesize, hypothesise, hypothecate, suppose - to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps"
    --1 is one way to expect, anticipate
    Derived forms: noun speculation2, noun speculator1
    Sample sentence:
    They speculate that there was a traffic accident
  2. 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; "We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal"
    --2 is one way to
    reason
    Derived forms: noun speculation1, noun speculator1
    Sample sentences:
    Somebody ----s
    Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
  3. chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate - 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"
    --3 is one way to think, cogitate, cerebrate
    Derived form: noun speculation4
    Sample sentence:
    Somebody ----s PP
  4. speculate, job - 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"
    --4 is one way to invest, put, commit, place
    Derived forms: noun speculation3, noun speculator2
    Sample sentences:
    Somebody ----s
    Somebody ----s PP
,
TOP