Definition of "speculation" []

• Contemplation or consideration of a subject; meditation. (noun)
• A conclusion, opinion, or theory reached by conjecture. (noun)
• Reasoning based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or supposition. (noun)
• Engagement in risky business transactions on the chance of quick or considerable profit. (noun)
• A commercial or financial transaction involving speculation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "DD: I don't like to use the term "speculation," as it's taken on a negative connotation that speculators are part of a conspiracy to drive up prices."
• "Somehow, such a simple appreciation of the reality that results from this little exercise in speculation is worth considering, even if there a number of facts to correct."
• "If I may be allowed to appropriate the term speculation for the activity of forecasting the psychology of the market, and the term enterprise for the activity of forecasting the prospective yield of assets over their whole life, it is by no means always the case that speculation predominates over enterprise."