different between speculative vs spectacular

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?kjul??t?v/
• Hyphenation: spec?u?la?tive

Adjective

speculative (comparative more speculative, superlative most speculative)

1. Characterized by speculation; based on guessing, unfounded opinions, or extrapolation.

   • "Don't dare laugh at us!" smiled his sister. "I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came […] and the Tenth Street house wasn't half big enough; and a dreadful speculative builder built this house and persuaded Austin to buy it. Oh, dear, and here we are among the rich and great; and the steel kings and copper kings and oil kings and their heirs and dauphins. Do you like the house?"
2. Pursued as a gamble, with possible large profits or losses; risky.
   • 2015, Paul Wilson, Alexis Sánchez sends Arsenal into final after gallant Reading go the distance (in The Guardian, 18 April 2015)[1]

     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.

3. Pertaining to financial speculation; Involving or resulting from high-risk investments or trade.

Derived terms

• speculative damages
• speculative fiction
• speculatively
• speculativeness
• speculative philosophy
• speculative realism

Related terms

• speculate
• speculation
• speculativity

Translations

See also

• conjectural

Italian

Adjective

speculative

1. feminine plural of speculativo

Latin

Adjective

specul?t?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of specul?t?vus

English

Etymology

From Latin spectaculum (“a sight, show”) + -ar

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sp?k?tæk.j?.l?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sp?k?tæk.j?.l?/
• Rhymes: -ækj?l?(?)
• Hyphenation: spec?tac?u?lar

Adjective

spectacular (comparative more spectacular, superlative most spectacular)

1. Amazing or worthy of special notice.

   The parachutists were spectacular.

2. (dated) Related to, or having the character of, a spectacle or entertainment.

   the merely spectacular

   • 1681, George Hickes, “A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London”:

     The like clamour, and outcry, the Rabble of the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles made again?t Polycarp Bi?hop of Smyrna, at the time of his Martyrdom. crying out again?t him to the Governour, that he ?hould ca?t him to the Lyons, and when he an?wered them he could not, becau?e the Spectacular ?ports were concluded, then they cry’d out, Burn him, burn him, ju?t as the Jews cryed out again?t Chri?t to Pilate, Crucify him, crucify him.
3. Relating to spectacles, or glasses for the eyes.

Derived terms

• spectacularly
• unspectacular

Related terms

• spectacle
• species
• speculate

Translations

Further reading

• spectacular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• spectacular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Noun

spectacular (plural spectaculars)

1. A spectacular display.
   • 2010, "Under the volcano", The Economist, 16 Oct 2010:

     Though business has more or less held up so far, a series of drug-related spectaculars sparked an exodus of the city's upper class this summer.

2. (advertising) A pop-up (folded paper element) in material sent by postal mail.
   • 1966, Hanley Norins, The Compleat Copywriter

     Here are a few examples of "spectaculars," or three-dimensional pieces, including those which have won awards […]

Romanian

Etymology

From French spectaculaire

Adjective

spectacular m or n (feminine singular spectacular?, masculine plural spectaculari, feminine and neuter plural spectaculare)

1. spectacular

Declension