See Also: Speculative(medicine)
speculative(dictionary)
Speculative(finance)
Speculative(money)
speculative(dictionary)
Speculative Value(money)
Speculative Risk(money)
Speculative stock(finance)
Speculative motive(finance)
Speculative motive(money)

speculative (iou)



speculative adjective & noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French speculatif, -ive or late Latin speculativus, formed as SPECULATE: see -ATIVE.]
A. adjective.
Of the nature of, based on, or characterized by speculation or theory rather than practical or positive knowledge; conjectural. LME.
speculative fiction literature, as science fiction or fantasy writing, dealing with imaginary or hypothetical worlds or environments. speculative grammar Hist. a late medieval scholastic grammar system interpreting the structure of language as mirroring reality; a grammatical theory arising from this.
Coleridge Philosophy must have a practical..as well as a theoretical or speculative side. C. P. Snow All this is speculative,..a dubious guess. N. Sherry His..speculative eyes, the eyebrows raised in a perpetual questioning.
Of a person etc.: given to abstract speculation, inclined to theorize or engage in conjecture, meditative. Of time, a faculty, etc.: spent in, used for, or devoted to such speculation. M16.
A. S. Byatt A fellow-scholar, erudite and speculative.
Suitable for observation, providing a vantage-point. Chiefly poet. E18.
Of a person: given to or engaging in speculation in stocks, property, etc. Also, of the nature of or based on such speculation, involving the risk of loss; gen. performed more in the hope than the anticipation of success. M18.
speculative builder a person who has houses erected without securing buyers in advance.
Hull Advertiser The price of corn which speculative men were trying to advance.
b. noun.
a. Speculation; hypothetical reasoning; theory. LME-E16.
b. In pl. Speculative matters; the speculative sciences. M-L17.
A speculator, a speculatist. rare. M17.
speculatively adverb L16.
speculativeness noun E18.
speculativism noun (excessive) practice of or tendency towards speculation M19.