speculate

Everyday

1. To guess or form ideas about something when you don't have all the facts. tree →
2. (money) To buy things like shares, land or currencies hoping to sell them later for more, with a risk of losing money. tree →

In the lessons

In history, science and reading lessons, pupils speculate (make guesses) about why something happened, then look for evidence; teachers say «don't just speculate, check». In news, people speculate about who will win or why something happened. In money lessons, speculating is risky investing.

Examples

• Scientists speculate that there might be water on that planet. tree →
• Everyone speculated about who the new teacher would be. tree →
• Don't speculate — read the text and find the answer. tree →
• Newspapers speculated about why the singer quit. tree →
• People who speculate on shares can win or lose a lot of money. tree →
• We can only speculate about how the Stone Age people moved the stones. tree →
• I will be an architect, which will place me among those who possess riches and intellect, and who speculate in art. tree →

Note

Regular verb. Noun: speculation; adjective: speculative. Speculation is a guess, not a proven fact; a good answer says «we can only speculate» when there is no evidence.