14 results for: hypothesis

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hy·poth·e·sis

Audio Help [hahy-poth-uh-sis, hi-] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -ses

Audio Help [-seez] Pronunciation Key.

1.	a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis) or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.

2.	a proposition assumed as a premise in an argument.

3.	the antecedent of a conditional proposition.

4.	a mere assumption or guess.

[Origin: 1590–1600; < Gk hypóthesis basis, supposition. See hypo-, thesis

]

—Related forms

hy·poth·e·sist, noun

—Synonyms 1. See theory.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
hypothesis

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hy·poth·e·sis Audio Help (hī-pŏth'ĭ-sĭs) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. hy·poth·e·ses (-sēz')

A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.
Something taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation; an assumption.
The antecedent of a conditional statement.

[Latin, subject for a speech, from Greek hupothesis, proposal, supposition, from hupotithenai, hupothe-, to suppose : hupo-, hypo- + tithenai, to place; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hypothesis

1596, from M.Fr. hypothese, from L.L. hypothesis, from Gk. hypothesis "base, basis of an argument, supposition," lit. "a placing under," from hypo- "under" + thesis "a placing, proposition." A term in logic; narrower scientific sense is 1646; hypothetical is 1588.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hypothesis
noun
1.	a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations
2.	a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices"
3.	a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence [syn: guess]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) - Cite This Source - Share This
hypothesis [haiˈpoθəsis] noun — plural hyˈpotheses [-siːz]

an unproved theory or point of view put forward, eg for the sake of argument

Arabic:	إفْتِراض، فَرَضِيَّه
Chinese (Simplified):	假设
Chinese (Traditional):	假設
Czech:	hypotéza
Danish:	hypotese
Dutch:	hypothese, vooronderstelling
Estonian:	hüpotees
Finnish:	hypoteesi
French:	hypothèse
German:	die Hypothese
Greek:	υπόθεση
Hungarian:	feltevés, hipotézis
Icelandic:	tilgáta
Indonesian:	hipotesis
Italian:	ipotesi

Japanese:	仮説
Latvian:	hipotēze
Lithuanian:	hipotezė
Norwegian:	antakelse, hypotese
Polish:	hipoteza
Portuguese (Brazil):	hipótese
Portuguese (Portugal):	hipótese
Romanian:	ipoteză
Russian:	гипотеза
Slovak:	hypotéza
Slovenian:	domneva
Spanish:	hipótesis
Swedish:	hypotes, antagande
Turkish:	hipotez, varsayım

See also: hypothetical

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hypothesis Audio Help (hī-pŏth'ĭ-sĭs) Pronunciation Key
Plural hypotheses (hī-pŏth'ĭ-sēz')
A statement that explains or makes generalizations about a set of facts or principles, usually forming a basis for possible experiments to confirm its viability.

Our Living Language : The words hypothesis, law, and theory refer to different kinds of statements, or sets of statements, that scientists make about natural phenomena. A hypothesis is a proposition that attempts to explain a set of facts in a unified way. It generally forms the basis of experiments designed to establish its plausibility. Simplicity, elegance, and consistency with previously established hypotheses or laws are also major factors in determining the acceptance of a hypothesis. Though a hypothesis can never be proven true (in fact, hypotheses generally leave some facts unexplained), it can sometimes be verified beyond reasonable doubt in the context of a particular theoretical approach. A scientific law is a hypothesis that is assumed to be universally true. A law has good predictive power, allowing a scientist (or engineer) to model a physical system and predict what will happen under various conditions. New hypotheses inconsistent with well-established laws are generally rejected, barring major changes to the approach. An example is the law of conservation of energy, which was firmly established but had to be qualified with the revolutionary advent of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. A theory is a set of statements, including laws and hypotheses, that explains a group of observations or phenomena in terms of those laws and hypotheses. A theory thus accounts for a wider variety of events than a law does. Broad acceptance of a theory comes when it has been tested repeatedly on new data and been used to make accurate predictions. Although a theory generally contains hypotheses that are still open to revision, sometimes it is hard to know where the hypothesis ends and the law or theory begins. Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, for example, consists of statements that were originally considered to be hypotheses (and daring at that). But all the hypotheses of relativity have now achieved the authority of scientific laws, and Einstein's theory has supplanted Newton's laws of motion. In some cases, such as the germ theory of infectious disease, a theory becomes so completely accepted, it stops being referred to as a theory.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
hypothesis [(heye-poth-uh-sis)]

plur. hypotheses (heye-poth-uh-seez)

In science, a statement of a possible explanation for some natural phenomenon. A hypothesis is tested by drawing conclusions from it; if observation and experimentation show a conclusion to be false, the hypothesis must be false. (See scientific method and theory.)

[Chapter:] Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hy·poth·e·sis (h-pth-ss)
n. pl. hy·poth·e·ses (-sz)

A tentative explanation that accounts for a set of facts and can be tested by further investigation.

hypo·theti·cal (h

-th

-k

l) adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: hy·poth·e·sis
Pronunciation: hI-'päth-&-s&s
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural hy·poth·e·ses /-"sEz/
: a proposition tentatively assumed in order to draw out its logical or empirical consequences and test its consistency with facts that are known or may be determined <it appears, then, to be a condition of the most genuinely scientific hypothesis that it be … of such a nature as to be either proved or disproved by comparison with observed facts —J. S. Mill> <most of the great unifying conceptions of modern science are working hypotheses —Bernard Bosanquet>

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hypothesis

Hy`po*the"ca\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? a thing subject to some obligation, fr. ? to put under, put down, pledge. See Hypothesis.] (Rom. Law) An obligation by which property of a debtor was made over to his creditor in security of his debt.

Note: It differed from pledge in regard to possession of the property subject to the obligation; pledge requiring, simple hypotheca not requiring, possession of it by the creditor. The modern mortgage corresponds very closely with it. --Kent.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hypothesis

Hy*poth"e*sis\, n.; pl. Hypotheses. [NL., fr. Gr. ? foundation, supposition, fr. ? to place under, ? under + ? to put. See Hypo-, Thesis.]

1. 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. --J. S. Mill.

2. (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.

Syn: Supposition; assumption. See Theory.

Nebular hypothesis. See under Nebular.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hypothesis

The"o*ry\, n.; pl. Theories. [F. th['e]orie, L. theoria, Gr. ? a beholding, spectacle, contemplation, speculation, fr. ? a spectator, ? to see, view. See Theater.]

1. A doctrine, or scheme of things, which terminates in speculation or contemplation, without a view to practice; hypothesis; speculation.

Note: "This word is employed by English writers in a very loose and improper sense. It is with them usually convertible into hypothesis, and hypothesis is commonly used as another term for conjecture. The terms theory and theoretical are properly used in opposition to the terms practice and practical. In this sense, they were exclusively employed by the ancients; and in this sense, they are almost exclusively employed by the Continental philosophers." --Sir W. Hamilton.

2. An exposition of the general or abstract principles of any science; as, the theory of music.

3. The science, as distinguished from the art; as, the theory and practice of medicine.

4. The philosophical explanation of phenomena, either physical or moral; as, Lavoisier's theory of combustion; Adam Smith's theory of moral sentiments.

Atomic theory, Binary theory, etc. See under Atomic, Binary, etc.

Syn: Hypothesis, speculation.

Usage: Theory, Hypothesis. A theory is a scheme of the relations subsisting between the parts of a systematic whole; an hypothesis is a tentative conjecture respecting a cause of phenomena.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hypothesis

The"sis\, n.; pl. Theses. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to place, set. See Do, and cf. Anathema, Apothecary, Epithet, Hypothesis, Parenthesis, Theme, Tick a cover.]

1. A position or proposition which a person advances and offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by argument.

2. Hence, an essay or dissertation written upon specific or definite theme; especially, an essay presented by a candidate for a diploma or degree.

I told them of the grave, becoming, and sublime deportment they should assume upon this mystical occasion, and read them two homilies and a thesis of my own composing, to prepare them. --Goldsmith.

3. (Logic) An affirmation, or distinction from a supposition or hypothesis.

4. (Mus.) The accented part of the measure, expressed by the downward beat; -- the opposite of arsis.

5. (Pros.) (a) The depression of the voice in pronouncing the syllables of a word. (b) The part of the foot upon which such a depression falls.

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