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Speculation vs Imagination - What's the difference?

speculation | imagination |

As nouns the difference between speculation and imagination

is that speculation is the process of thinking or meditating on a subject while imagination is the image-making power of the mind; the act of creating or reproducing ideally an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.

speculation

English

Noun

(wikipedia speculation) (en noun)
  • The process of thinking or meditating on a subject.
  • * Milton
  • Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts.
  • * 2012 , Caroline Davies, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce they are expecting first baby'' (in ''The Guardian , 3 December 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/03/duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge-expecting-baby?intcmp=122]
  • The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have ended months of intense speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child, but were forced to share their news earlier than hoped because of the Duchess's admission to hospital on Monday.
  • (philosophy) 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.
  • * Sir W. Temple
  • From him Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part of his natural speculations .
  • * Macaulay
  • To his speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the "Oracles of Reason".
  • (business, finance) 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. Smith
  • Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what is called the trade of speculation .
  • * F. A. Walker
  • Speculation , while confined within moderate limits, is the agent for equalizing supply and demand, and rendering the fluctuations of price less sudden and abrupt than they would otherwise be.
  • Examination by the eye; view.
  • (obsolete) Power of sight.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou hast no speculation in those eyes.
  • 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.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * "on speculation" (on spec) Creating a work with the hope of selling it, as opposed to creating a work "on commission" for hire.

    Anagrams

    * *

    imagination

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The image-making power of the mind; the act of creating or reproducing ideally an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.
  • Imagination is one of the most advanced human faculties.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=5 citation , passage=She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination .}}
  • Particularly, construction of false images; fantasizing.
  • You think someone's been following you? That's just your imagination .
  • Creativity; resourcefulness.
  • His imagination makes him a valuable team member.
  • A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion; an imagining; something imagined.
  • * 1597 , Francis Bacon, "Of Youth and Age", Essays :
  • And yet the invention of young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely.

    Synonyms

    * (the representative power) creativity, fancy, imaginativeness, invention, inventiveness