the contemplation or consideration of some subject: to engage in speculation on humanity's ultimate destiny.
2.
a single instance or process of consideration.
3.
a conclusion or opinion reached by such contemplation: These speculations are impossible to verify.
4.
conjectural consideration of a matter; conjecture or surmise: a report based on speculation rather than facts.
5.
engagement in business transactions involving considerable risk but offering the chance of large gains, esp. trading in commodities, stocks, etc., in the hope of profit from changes in the market price.
6.
a speculative commercial venture or undertaking.
[Origin: 1325–75; ME speculacioun < LL speculātiōn- (s. of speculātiō) exploration, observation. See speculate, -ion]
c.1374, "contemplation, consideration," from O.Fr. speculation, from L.L. speculationem (nom. speculatio) "contemplation, observation," from L. speculatus, pp. of speculari "observe," from specere "to look at, view" (see scope (1)). Disparaging sense of "mere conjecture" is recorded from 1575. Meaning "buying and selling in search of profit from rise and fall of market value" is recorded from 1774; short form spec is attested from 1794. Speculator in the financial sense is first recorded 1778. Speculate is a 1599 back-formation.
a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence [syn: guess]
2.
a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence); "speculations about the outcome of the election"; "he dismissed it as mere conjecture"
3.
an investment that is very risky but could yield great profits; "he knew the stock was a speculation when he bought it"
4.
continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature; "the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge" [syn: meditation]
Spec`u*la"tion\, n. [L. speculatio a spying out, observation: cf. F. sp['e]culation.]1. The act of speculating. Specifically: (a) Examination by the eye; view. [Obs.] (b) Mental view of anything in its various aspects and relations; contemplation; intellectual examination. Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts. --Milton. (c) (Philos.) The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed. (d) (Com.) 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. Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what is called the trade of speculation. --A. Smith. Speculation, while confined within moderate limits, is the agent for equalizing supply and demand, and rendering the fluctuations of price less sudden and abrupt than they would otherwise be. --F. A. Walker. (e) Any business venture in involving unusual risks, with a chance for large profits. 2. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; view; notion; conjecture. From him Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part of his natural speculations. --Sir W. temple. To his speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the "Oracles of Reason." --Macaulay. 3. Power of sight. [Obs.] Thou hast no speculation in those eyes. --Shak. 4. A game at cards 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.
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