Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: PHILOSOPHY

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Greek
Origin: hypotithenai 'to put under, hypothesize'

hypothesis

 noun
     
hy‧poth‧e‧sis plural hypotheses
1 [countable]RP an idea that is suggested as an explanation for something, but that has not yet been proved to be true [= theory]:
One hypothesis is that the victim fell asleep while driving.
prove/test/support etc a hypothesis
We hope that further research will confirm our hypothesis.
hypothesis about
The authors reject the hypothesis about unemployment contributing to crime.
2 [uncountable] ideas or guesses rather than facts [= speculation]:
All this is mere hypothesis.
Definition of hypothesis from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
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