hypothesis
[haɪˈpʰɑθəsɪs]
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.87 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem and that can be tested by further observation, investigation, or experimentation.
noun
An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
noun
The antecedent of a conditional statement.
Example Sentences
- "This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation that fewer females than males act antisocially."
- "Far too many of us have been taught in school that a scientist, in the course of trying to figure something out, will first come up with a "hypothesis" (a guess or surmise—not necessarily even an "educated" guess). ... [But t]he word "hypothesis" should be used, in science, exclusively for a reasoned, sensible, knowledge-informed explanation for why some phenomenon exists or occurs. An hypothesis can be as yet untested; can have already been tested; may have been falsified; may have not yet been falsified, although tested; or may have been tested in a myriad of ways countless times without being falsified; and it may come to be universally accepted by the scientific community. An understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, requires a grasp of the principles underlying Occam's Razor and Karl Popper's thought in regard to "falsifiability"—including the notion that any respectable scientific hypothesis must, in principle, be "capable of" being proven wrong (if it should, in fact, just happen to be wrong), but none can ever be proved to be true. One aspect of a proper understanding of the word "hypothesis," as used in science, is that only a vanishingly small percentage of hypotheses could ever potentially become a theory."
Etymology
Recorded since 1596, from Middle French hypothese, from Late Latin hypothesis, from Ancient Greek ὑπόθεσις (hupóthesis, “base, basis of an argument, supposition”, literally “a placing under”), itself from ὑποτίθημι (hupotíthēmi, “to set before, suggest”), from ὑπό (hupó, “below”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”). Compare hypothec.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeh₁-, hypothese, hypothesis, ὑπόθεσις
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [haɪˈpʰɑθəsɪs]
- British English: /haɪˈpɒθɪsɪs/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
theory
law[Appendix:Glossary
Synonyms
educated guess
guess
supposition
conjecture
thesis
theory[Appendix:Glossary
assumption
foreguess
given
hunch
hypothesis
inference