speculation

Plural: speculations

Noun

• a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
• a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)
  • "speculations about the outcome of the election"
• an investment that is very risky but could yield great profits
  • "he knew the stock was a speculation when he bought it"
• continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature
• The faculty of sight.
• An act of looking at something; examination, observation.
• The process or act of thinking or meditating on a subject.
• The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.
• A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; notion; conjecture.
• An investment involving higher-than-normal risk in order to obtain a higher-than-normal return.
• The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in different markets.
• A card game in which the players buy from one another trumps or whole hands, upon a chance of getting the highest trump dealt, which entitles the holder to the pool of stakes.
• The process of anticipating which branch of code will be chosen and executing it in advance.

Synonyms

conjecture, guess, hypothesis, meditation, supposition, surmisal, surmise, venture