SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
speculative
adjective
Based on possibilities or conjecture rather than established evidence.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Based on conjecture
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSpeculative reasoning goes beyond established evidence. Theoretical work can be rigorously supported, so theoretical does not necessarily imply an unsupported guess.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See speculative in use
The account of the missing letter remains speculative until more records are found.
The committee's next explanation was speculative: perhaps a staff change had caused the booking messages to cross.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license