# speculation

Pronunciation: say "spek-yuh-LAY-shuhn" US/UK /ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/, AUS /ˌspek.jəˈlæɪ.ʃən/

## Noun

1. An idea or conclusion reached by guessing rather than from solid evidence; mere theory or conjecture.
   - Simple: A guess or idea about something when you do not have all the facts.
   - _The cause of the fire remains a matter of speculation._
   - _Her theory was dismissed as idle speculation rather than established fact._
2. Reflective thinking about a subject, or an instance of pondering it.
   - Simple: The act of thinking deeply or carefully about a subject.
   - _Philosophical speculation occupied most of his evenings._
   - _The lecture invited speculation on the nature of time itself._
3. An investment that carries higher-than-normal risk in the hope of a higher-than-normal return.
   - Simple: Putting money into something risky, hoping to make a big profit.
   - _The fund avoided speculation, preferring steady long-term holdings._
   - _Currency speculation can move markets within minutes._
4. The practice of buying or selling assets in the hope of profiting from future price changes rather than from normal trade margins.
   - Simple: Buying or selling things while hoping their price will change in your favor.
   - _Speculation in housing drove rents up across the city._
   - _Wheat prices swung wildly under heavy speculation that summer._
5. The act or process of reasoning from given or assumed premises, prior to and independent of experience.
   - Simple: Working things out by reasoning from ideas, not from real-world tests.
   - _Greek cosmology rested largely on speculation about first principles._
   - _Metaphysical speculation seeks truths that reason alone can reach._
6. The process of predicting which branch of code will run and executing it in advance.
   - Simple: Running a piece of computer code early, before the program knows it is needed.
   - _Speculation allows the CPU to begin work before a branch outcome is resolved._
   - _Aggressive speculation improves throughput but can leak data through side channels._
7. A card game in which players buy trumps or whole hands from one another, the holder of the highest trump dealt winning the pooled stakes.
   - Simple: An old card game where players buy and sell cards, hoping to hold the highest trump.
   - _The guests settled down to a noisy round of speculation after dinner._
   - _He lost a shilling at speculation before the cards were finally put away._

## Noun

8. An act of examining something visually or watching it carefully. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of looking closely at something or watching it carefully.
9. The faculty of sight; the power of seeing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The power or ability to see.
   - _The fever robbed her eyes of all speculation._
   - _His eyes were open, yet held no speculation at all._

## Origin

This word came into Middle English as 'speculacioun' from Old French 'speculation' (compare French 'spéculation'), which came from Late Latin 'speculātiō', from Latin 'speculor'. In form, it is 'speculate' plus the suffix '-ion'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/speculation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).