speculative
based on conjecture rather than certainty
Roots
- -ative: action-effect adjective ending
- spec / spic: look or see
Other words with the spec / spic root
- circumspect: cautious and careful
- conspicuous: easy to notice or clearly visible
- inspection: careful looking or examination
- perspicacious: keenly perceptive
- perspicacity: keenness of understanding or insight
- specious: seemingly plausible but actually misleading
- spectacle: something striking to see
- spectacles: glasses used for seeing
Spec gives looking. Speculative thought looks beyond what is proven.
The explanation was interesting but speculative, so she marked it as a maybe.
Speculative can be valuable, but it is not settled. The mind is looking outward from the evidence into possibility. Keep it separate from specious: speculative may be unproven; specious is misleading.