Speculative
['spekjʊlətɪv] or ['spɛkjələtɪv]
Definition
(a.) Given to speculation; contemplative.
(a.) Involving, or formed by, speculation; ideal; theoretical; not established by demonstration.
(a.) Of or pertaining to vision; also, prying; inquisitive; curious.
(a.) Of or pertaining to speculation in land, goods, shares, etc.; as, a speculative dealer or enterprise.
Edited by Elena
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Contemplative, unpractical, Platonic, philosophical, given to speculation.[2]. Theoretical, ideal, imaginary.[3]. Given to hazardous trading.
Inputed by Claude
Examples
- We crossed a walk to the other part of the academy, where, as I have already said, the projectors in speculative learning resided. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- There was not a moment to be wasted on the purely speculative question of Betteredge's conscience. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Samuel Edison did well at this occupation, and employed several men, but there were other outlets from time to time for his business activity and speculative disposition. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Much of this map is of course speculative, but its broad outlines must be fairly like those of the world in which men first became men. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- We have failed to mention Hippocrates (460-370 B.C) the Father of Medicine, in whom is found an intimate union of practical science and speculative philosophy. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- But both in the matter of our time charts and the three maps we have given of prehistoric geography there is necessarily much speculative matter. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The speculative merchant exercises no one regular, established, or well-known branch of business. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He also becomes more dogmatic and constructive, passing beyond the range either of the political or the speculative ideas of the real Socrates. Plato. The Republic.
- Luxury building and speculative company promotion had been restrained. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- We know very little of his purely speculative thought. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- And if from a speculative angle the Marxian tradition has shaded too heavily the economic facts, it was at least a plausible and practical exaggeration. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Vitruvius had the Roman practical and regulative genius, not th e abstract and speculative genius of Athens. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- He may study from the speculative side the profession or business in which he is practically engaged. Plato. The Republic.
- He liked to read books about the primitive man, books of anthropology, and also works of speculative philosophy. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Here were the factors of a bad economic atmosphere, suspicious, feverish, greedy, and speculative. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The operations of the speculative merchant are principally employed about such commodities. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Here again, howev er, it is the fundamental, the indispensable, the practical forms of knowledge that stand revealed rather than the theoretical, speculative, and purely intellectual. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- So long as there have been birds to watch, so long have men of speculative minds wondered at the secret of their flight. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Gr eat, indeed, as we shall see in the next chapter, are the contributions to the growth of science of this highly rational and speculative people. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
Inputed by Claude