speculative

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French speculatif or directly from Late Latin speculativus, from Latin speculor.

adj

1. Characterized by speculation; based on guessing, unfounded opinions, or extrapolation.
   Like The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake is a speculative fiction, not a science fiction proper. 2013, P. L. Thomas, Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction: Challenging Genres, page 2
   When not inaccurate, much commentary on the contents of Hobson-Jobson is couched in hedges or relies on speculative estimates in the absence of exact information. 2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 487
2. Pursued as a gamble, with possible large profits or losses; risky.
   It was written between 1929 and 1930 and deals with a famine caused by speculative investments of the Meat King of Chicago, Pierpont Mauler. 2010, Sebastian Schneider, Investments of Speculative Capital in Staple Foods, page 13
   Tranquillo Barnetta was the grateful beneficiary of uncertain England defending and poor goalkeeping from Joe Hart as he twice saw speculative free-kicks end in the back of the net in the first half. June 4, 2011, Phil McNulty, “England 2-2 Switzerland”, in BBC
   Little seemed on when Sánchez cut in from the left and sent a speculative low shot through a crowd of players, but though Federici had it covered he could not hold on to the ball and it squirmed over the line through his legs. 18 April 2015, Paul Wilson, The Guardian
3. Pertaining to financial speculation; Involving or resulting from high-risk investments or trade.
   In other words, it is critical to know whether a currency is under high speculative pressure for every month in the sample. 2001, Zhiwei Zhang, Speculative Attacks in the Asian Crisis, page 4
   Empirical tests of speculative bubbles, including those assessing early warning indicators in the context of financial crises, are forced to contend with other difficult measurement and inference issues. 2014, Bradley Jones, Identifying Speculative Bubbles, page 9