different between guess vs speculation

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?s, IPA^(key): /??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English gessen, probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitis?n? (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getan? (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Danish gisse (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitisk?n?). Compare also Russian ??????? (gadát?, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.

Verb

guess (third-person singular simple present guesses, present participle guessing, simple past and past participle guessed)

1. To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
2. To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

3. (chiefly US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
   • 1714, Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace

     But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
4. (colloquial) To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".

5. (obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.

Synonyms

• hypothesize
• take a stab
• speculate
• assume

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English gesse. Cognate with Dutch gis (“a guess”).

Noun

guess (plural guesses)

1. A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.

   Synonyms: estimate, hypothesis, prediction

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• guess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• guess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Guses

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French speculation (compare French spéculation), from Late Latin specul?ti?, specul?ti?nem, from Latin speculor.Morphologically speculate +? -ion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?kj??le???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: spec?u?la?tion

Noun

speculation (countable and uncountable, plural speculations)

1. The process of thinking or meditating on a subject.
   • 2012, Caroline Davies, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce they are expecting first baby (in The Guardian, 3 December 2012)[1]

     The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have ended months of intense speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child, but were forced to share their news earlier than hoped because of the Duchess's admission to hospital on Monday.

2. (philosophy) The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.
3. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; notion; conjecture.
4. (business, finance) An investment involving higher-than-normal risk in order to obtain a higher-than-normal return.
5. The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in different markets.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

     Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what is called the trade of speculation.

   • 1883, Francis Amasa Walker, Political Economy

     Speculation, while confined within moderate limits, is the agent for equalizing supply and demand, and rendering the fluctuations of price less sudden and abrupt than they would otherwise be.

6. Examination by the eye; view.
7. (obsolete) Power of sight.
8. A card game in which the players buy from one another trumps or whole hands, upon a chance of getting the highest trump dealt, which entitles the holder to the pool of stakes.
9. (programming) The process of anticipating which branch of code will be chosen and executing it in advance.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:supposition

Derived terms

• "on speculation" (on spec) Creating a work with the hope of selling it, as opposed to creating a work "on commission" for hire.

Translations

Anagrams

• peculations, placentious, spinoculate