Speculator
noun
noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One who speculates; an observer; a contemplator.
"a bold and paradoxical speculator"
- 2 someone who risks losses for the possibility of considerable gains wordnet
- 3 One who forms theories; a theorist.
"[…] 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."
- 4 someone who makes conjectures without knowing the facts wordnet
- 5 One who speculates; as in investing, one who is willing to take volatile risks upon invested principal for the potential of substantial returns.
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- 6 Synonym of field goal.
Example
More examples"An inexperienced stock speculator could easily let his business go to pot and lose his entire fortune."
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.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.