speculator en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈspɛkjʊˌleɪtə/ (UK)
Etymology
From Latin speculātor (“spy, explorer, investigator”), from speculor (“to watch, to observe”) + -tor (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from specula (“watchtower”), from speciō (“to watch, to observe”), q.v. In some senses, an agent noun formed within English from speculate. Doublet of spectator.
Meanings
-
One who speculates; an observer; a contemplator.
a bold and paradoxical speculator
c. 1683 (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in [Thomas Tenison], editor, Certain Miscellany Tracts, London: […] Charles Mearn, […], published 1683, →OCLC:
-
One who forms theories; a theorist.
For, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, a speculator who had dared to affirm that the human soul is by its nature mortal, and does, in the great majority of cases, actually die with the body, would have been burned alive in Smithfield.
1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:[…] in things of Fact, the People are as much to be believed, as the most subtle Philosophers and Speculators, since here sense is the Judge.
1666, Joseph Glanvill, Philosophical Considerations concerning Witches and Witchcraft:
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One who speculates; as in investing, one who is willing to take volatile risks upon invested principal for the potential of substantial returns.
But it would be very unjust to think of all the Railway Members as speculators and simply out to feather their own nests, not that it is fair to think of George Hudson in this light alone.
1960 March 14, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:He had inherited his not inconsiderable fortune from an American cousin, who had in his time been a successful speculator—a speculator not exactly in crops, which are notoriously kittle-cattle, but in official crop reports.
1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
- Synonym of field goal.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| speculators | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
entrepreneur · speculatrix · speculative · punter · speculate · speculation · gambler
Synonyms
Translations (27)
uk ґешефтя́р (one who speculates; as in investing) · ru спекуля́нт (one who speculates; as in investing) · fi keinottelija (one who speculates; as in investing) · da spekulant (one who speculates; as in investing) · fr boukiman (Senegal) (one who speculates; as in investing) · bg спекулант (one who speculates; as in investing) · id spekulan (one who speculates; as in investing) · es especulador (one who speculates; as in investing) · tr vurguncu (one who speculates; as in investing) · ar مُضَارِب (one who speculates; as in investing) · uk спекуля́нтка (one who speculates; as in investing) · ja 投機家 (one who speculates; as in investing) · nl speculant (one who speculates; as in investing) · cmn 投機者 /投机者 (one who speculates; as in investing) · ko 투기꾼 (one who speculates; as in investing) · pt especulador (one who speculates; as in investing) · ru спекуля́нтка (one who speculates; as in investing) · cs spekulant (one who speculates; as in investing) · fr agioteur (one who speculates; as in investing) · de Spekulant (one who speculates; as in investing) · pl spekulant (one who speculates; as in investing) · uk спекуля́нт (one who speculates; as in investing) · ga amhantraí (one who speculates; as in investing) · sv spekulant (one who speculates; as in investing) · de Spekulantin (one who speculates; as in investing) · fr spéculateur (one who speculates; as in investing) · id spekulator (one who speculates; as in investing)