Meaning & use

speculation

noun·Academic

The act of forming a theory or guess about something without firm evidence.

See it in a sentence

There was widespread speculation about who would be named the new CEO.

Wild speculation on social media often spreads faster than confirmed facts.

A note on using this word

Speculation implies a lack of solid evidence, so pairing it with words like 'wild' or 'mere' is common to stress its uncertainty.

Words with a similar meaning

conjectureguesswork

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

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