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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

speculation

/ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does speculation mean?

noun

  1. The process or act of thinking or meditating on a subject.
  2. The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.
  3. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; notion; conjecture.
More meanings (6)

noun

  1. An investment involving higher-than-normal risk in order to obtain a higher-than-normal return.
  2. The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in different markets.
  3. A card game in which the players buy from one another trumps or whole hands, upon a chance of getting the highest trump dealt, which entitles the holder to the pool of stakes.
  4. The process of anticipating which branch of code will be chosen and executing it in advance.
  5. (obsolete) The faculty of sight.
  6. (obsolete) An act of looking at something; examination, observation.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Geniuses in the impenetrable depths of abstraction and pure speculation, situated, so to speak, above all dogmas, propose their ideas to God.
Victor HugoLes MisérablesTranslated by Isabel Florence HapgoodProject Gutenberg ebook #135
Every effort of thinking and laboring humanity, every individual and social speculation, as an integrant part of collective wealth, obeys this law.
P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) ProudhonSystem of Economical Contradictions; Or, The Philosophy of MiseryProject Gutenberg ebook #444
More book examples (3)
The cell, said Haeckel, does not act, it reacts—and what is the instrument of reflection and speculation save a congeries of cells?
H. L. (Henry Louis) MenckenIn Defense of WomenProject Gutenberg ebook #1270
He is cautious in his speculation, and sacrifices momentary doubtful, and hence, petty successes, to the greater later success of certain earning.
Hans GrossCriminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and StudentsTranslated by Horace Meyer KallenProject Gutenberg ebook #1320
There are regions of speculation in which the negative is hardly separable from the positive, and even seems to pass into it.
PlatoTimaeusTranslated by Benjamin JowettProject Gutenberg ebook #1572