Definition of "speculatist"

The very ingenious speculatist, Mr. Hume, seems to wish as well as think, that as death is unavoidable by the political as well as the animal body, the British constitution may die in the arms of despotism.

1795, Vicesimus Knox, The Spirit of Despotism

The objections of these speculatists, if its forces do not quadrate with their theories, are as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against the most violent tyranny or the greenest usurpation.

1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 58