ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˈlāshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin speculation-, speculatio act of spying out, exploration, contemplation, from Latin speculatus, past participle of speculari to spy out, examine
1.
a. archaic : studious or profound consideration of some object or topic
b. : the faculty, act, or process of intellectual examination or investigation: as
(1) : reasoning taking the form of prolonged and systematic analysis
(2) : reasoning or theorizing about a matter that transcends experience and does not admit of demonstration : reasoning a priori
(3) Hegelianism : reasoning that apprehends the unity of opposing categories, synthesizes them in a broader comprehension, and constitutes the thinking which explains objects of experience by their relation to the absolute personal reason
c. : contemplation or the theoretical as opposed to action or the practical
d. : light, casual, or superficial mental examination or study : mere guesswork or surmise
his answer was obviously a product of speculation and not of serious thought
2. archaic : capacity for or exercise of the power of seeing: as
a. : comprehending or mental vision
thou hast no speculation in those eyes — Shakespeare
b. : physical vision : the act of viewing : observation
3. : a product of speculation: as
a. : a view, conclusion, opinion, or decision based on thought or attained by reasoning
b. : guess , conjecture
4. obsolete : observer
5.
a. : an act of speculating (as by engaging in business out of the ordinary, by dealing with a view to making a profit from conjectural fluctuations in the price rather than from earnings of the ordinary profit of trade, or by entering into a business venture involving unusual risks for a chance of an unusually large gain or profit) or the condition of being speculated in
uncontrolled speculation is a danger to the national economy
land speculation in the 19th century was as common as stock speculation today
— contrasted with investment
b. : an individual transaction so entered into
had a successful speculation in cotton futures
6. : a card game in which the players buy trumps from one another on a chance of getting the highest trump dealt and winning the pool