Postulate vs Speculate - What's the difference?
postulate | speculate |
Something assumed without proof as being self-evident or generally accepted, especially when used as a basis for an argument.
A fundamental element; a basic principle.
(logic) An axiom.
A requirement; a prerequisite.
To assume as a truthful or accurate premise or axiom, especially as a basis of an argument.
* 1883 , , Prop. XXII,
* 1911 , Encyclopædia Britannica , "",
(ambitransitive, Christianity, historical) To appoint or request one's appointment to an ecclesiastical office.
* 1874 , John Small (ed.), The Poetical Works of Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld , Vol 1,
(ambitransitive, obsolete) To request, demand or claim for oneself.
To think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.
* Hawthorne
To make an inference based on inconclusive evidence; to surmise or conjecture.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.
As verbs the difference between postulate and speculate
is that postulate is to assume as a truthful or accurate premise or axiom, especially as a basis of an argument while speculate is to think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.As a noun postulate
is something assumed without proof as being self-evident or generally accepted, especially when used as a basis for an argument.As an adjective postulate
is postulated.postulate
English
(wikipedia postulate)Noun
(en noun)Verb
(postulat)- But this pleasure or pain is postulated to come to us accompanied by the idea of an external cause;
- [T]he attempt to arrive at a physical explanation of existence led the Ionian thinkers to postulate various primal elements or simply the infinite ?? ???????.
p. xvi
- [A]lthough Douglas was postulated to it [the Abbacy of Arbroath], and signed letters and papers under this designation his nomination was never completed.
speculate
English
Verb
(speculat)- It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society.
Fantasy of navigation, passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}