to speculate
10
7.0
- verb
- /ˈspɛkjʊˌleɪt/
- Specialized
:
especular
- As the prices of cryptocurrencies soar and fall, people increasingly speculate on which ones will thrive.
It is they confuse the concepts of speculating versus investing.
- It is they confuse the concepts of speculating versus investing.
- Here living in the financial capital of the USA, most people think that speculating in grain creates problems.
- You know, if you have startups and you need to be there for them, Don't speculate on the stock market right now.
- In any case, ordinary people are actually investing and speculating more than ever before in the pursuit of wealth.
- And Xi Jinping said, you know, houses are meant to live in, not to speculate on.
- Fewer people realize that our present tax and welfare structure is such as to encourage the wealthy to speculate and the poor to vegetate.
- And then there's this kind of, you know, the market people speculate about what the the the drug maker might charge and then we find out.
- Quit investing in stocks, quit speculating, quit Bitcoin in.
- So you have building that was speculating on, yay, rents skyrocketing.
- And then I, and then the, I'm going to speculate kind of money because, OK, when you try to beat the markets, OK, don't be naive.
Examples
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During the economic downturn, some traders speculated on undervalued assets to gain from potential rebounds.
-
In any case, ordinary people are actually investing and speculating more than ever before in the pursuit of wealth.
-
Some did it to buy toys or to speculate in the real estate market by buying other properties.
Blog text (22) -
But putting your money in gold, for instance, is speculating.
Academic text (2010) -
There are also people speculating on food futures to make a quick buck.
Blog text (20) -
What is more, he speculated in land on a colossal scale.
Academic text (1997) -
Speculating in commodities was common in the ancient world, and people of wealth invested mostly in land.
Academic text (2010) -
The global bankers arranged for hedge funds to speculate on food-based commodities.
Blog text (12) -
And so people are speculating in Bitcoin as a store of value, but they're not yet using Bitcoin that extensively to transact.
-
Many investors hope to earn a profit when they speculate on the stock market's daily fluctuations.
Synonyms
96
3.7
To risk money guessing which result will happen
7
4.2
To do something risky hoping to get a good result
2
4.2
Buy and sell stocks to try to make a profit
1
3.9
To buy something when its price is low and sell it later to make money
How Risky
Surface Forms
Morphology
speculate = specul + ate
The root 'specul' is a Latinate combining form not a standalone English word, and the verb-forming suffix '-ate' is not transparently meaningful to an average B1 learner, so the meaning cannot be reliably derived from the parts.
Etymology
Speculate also comes from the Latin root spec- meaning 'to look', and a speculator was originally someone who 'looked' for chances. So to speculate with money is to take a risk and try to make a quick profit by 'looking' for the right opportunity.