HYPOTHESIS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Hypothesis

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/haɪpˈɑθəsəs/ Listen

noun

Hypothesis n. (pl. hypotheses)

A supposition; a proposition or principle which is supposed or taken for granted, in order to draw a conclusion or inference for proof of the point in question; something not proved, but assumed for the purpose of argument, or to account for a fact or an occurrence; as, the hypothesis that head winds detain an overdue steamer. "An hypothesis being a mere supposition, there are no other limits to hypotheses than those of the human imagination."

(Natural Science) A tentative theory or supposition provisionally adopted to explain certain facts, and to guide in the investigation of others; hence, frequently called a working hypothesis.

Synonyms: Supposition; assumption. See Theory.

Nebular hypothesis. See under Nebular.

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Etymology of 'Hypothesis'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hypothesis" Quotes from Famous Books

... read Suarez and has totally misrepresented him—a hypothesis which, I hope I need hardly say, I do not for a moment entertain: or, he has got his information at second hand, and has himself been deceived. But in that case, it is surely an imprudence on his part, to reproach me with having "read Suarez ad hoc, and evidently ...

— Critiques and Addresses • Thomas Henry Huxley

... As a working hypothesis, correspondence is adequate to all life, through the whole range of phenomena. The flash of thought and its swiftness explain the lightning flash and the sweep of a comet through the heavens. My mental sky opens to me the vast celestial spaces, and ...

— The World I Live In • Helen Keller

... burden now as any one woman ought to take upon herself, with me and the house and the children and Granny. And here is this crazy nephew of mine proposing the addition to the family of a stranger who hasn't any past and whose future seems wrapped mostly in a nebular hypothesis. It is rather a large ...

— Wild Wings - A Romance of Youth • Margaret Rebecca Piper

... this opening might well have been that of discharge of a stream, now choked, for the Baumes Chauds and its adjoining fissures, one is led at first to suppose that water had brought down these logs that had fallen into some pot-hole. But this hypothesis is untenable, for it can be seen that these poles have been artificially pointed at each end, and that they have been made firm by cross pieces of metal, either bronze or iron. This may be the remains of a roof or a floor destined ...

— Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe • Sabine Baring-Gould

... involved, they must, if possible, institute experiments. I say therefore to those whose observation has not satisfied them concerning the phenomenon Christianity,—"Where is your experiment? Why do you not thus try the utterance claiming to be the law of life? Call it a hypothesis, and experiment upon it. Carry into practice, well justified of your conscience, the words which the Man spoke, for therein he says himself lies the possibility of your acceptance of his mission; and if, after reasonable time thus spent, you are ...

— England's Antiphon • George MacDonald

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