speculatively.

1. On a conjectural basis beyond what the evidence securely establishes.

2. With financial risk in expectation of gains from price movements.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• speculatively explain
• speculatively infer

On the page

The author speculatively explained the omission through a motive the records did not establish.

The analyst speculatively inferred a wider pattern from the small set of cases.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Invariable adverb; use more or most only where natural. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: effect assessment, evidence qualification, conditional reasoning, method comparison. Disciplines: argumentation, research interpretation, analytical writing. Commonness: moderately common.