SPECULATIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Speculative

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/spˈɛkjələtɪv/ Listen

adjective

Speculative adj.

Given to speculation; contemplative. "The mind of man being by nature speculative."

Involving, or formed by, speculation; ideal; theoretical; not established by demonstration.

Of or pertaining to vision; also, prying; inquisitive; curious. (R.)

Of or pertaining to speculation in land, goods, shares, etc.; as, a speculative dealer or enterprise. "The speculative merchant exercises no one regular, established, or well-known branch of business."

(Finance) More risky than typical investments; not investment grade.

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Etymology of 'Speculative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Speculative" Quotes from Famous Books

... if there ever was a time in human history in which men were awaiting a hero, a Messiah, a redeemer, it is ours. No opinion is more foolish than the one that in our age there would be no room for a prophet. But he must not be a moralist preaching repentance, not a speculative builder of systems, not a man of lamentations and warnings, but ...

— The Bride of Dreams • Frederik van Eeden

... Physics, George Louis Le Sage, who was then greatly interested in Professor Black's recent discoveries about latent heat and Professor Matthew Stewart's in astronomy, and was one of a group who gathered round Bonnet for discussions in speculative philosophy and morals, at which, it may be reasonably inferred, Smith would have also occasionally assisted. Le Sage seems to have met Smith first, however, and to have been in the habit of meeting him often afterwards, at the house of a high and distinguished French ...

— Life of Adam Smith • John Rae

... that of the lizard as it is sometimes drawn. The two eyes indicate that the enlargement in which these were placed is the head, and the extended curved snout a beak. All else is incomprehensible to me, and my identification is therefore provisional and largely speculative. ...

— Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 • Jesse Walter Fewkes

... rows of children filed out, every head turning for a last unpleasingly speculative look at the outlaw. Then Miss Spence closed the door into the cloakroom and that into the big hall, and came and sat at her desk, near Penrod. The tramping of feet outside, the shrill calls and shouting ...

— Penrod • Booth Tarkington

... consigned though they were socially to the lowest level. Fate's injustice was a strong bond between them. And then, by different ways, following each his own bent of mind, they had attained to poesy. Lucien, destined for the highest speculative fields of natural science, was aiming with hot enthusiasm at fame through literature; while David, with that meditative temperament which inclines to poetry, was drawn by his tastes towards ...

— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

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