Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or based on a hypothesis: a hypothetical situation. See Synonyms at theoretical.
- adj. Suppositional; uncertain. See Synonyms at supposed.
- adj. Conditional; contingent.
- n. A hypothetical circumstance, condition, scenario, or situation: OK, let's consider this possibility then—just as a hypothetical.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Same as hypothetic, and the more common form.
- A proposition consisting of two or more clauses united by conjunctions, or which states a relation to exist between different possibilities.
- n. A hypothetical proposition.
Wiktionary
- adj. Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural
- adj. philosophy conditional; contingent upon some hypothesis/antecedent
- n. A hypothetical situation or proposition
WordNet 3.0
- n. a hypothetical possibility, circumstance, statement, proposal, situation, etc.
- adj. based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ὑποθετικός (hupothetikos) (Wiktionary)
- From Greek hupothetikos, from hupothetos, placed under, supposed, from hupotithenai, to suppose; see hypothesis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I pointed out that your hypothetical is a complete distortion of how we actually use bridges and fund that usage, and has nothing to do with HSR.”
“Of course, my hypothetical is theoretical, as I am not talking about a real thing that has attributes A, B, and C.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » The Further Left You Are the Less You Know About Economics:
“ARENA: Well, you know, both those men have refused to deal with what they call hypothetical situations.”
“Warner Johnson, an ESDC spokesperson, declined to discuss what he called hypothetical changes to eminent domain law, but he reaffirmed its importance.”
“The problem I have with your hypothetical is that libertarian paternalism, like cost-benefit analysis, is designed to be governing philosophy for a broad range of policy decisions (even if it has not yet been widely adopted).”
The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Behavioral Economics and Regulatory Policy:
“The poll also indicates that Cuomo, a Democrat who is expected to announce that he's running for governor, holds very large leads over possible Republican contenders in hypothetical general election matchups.”
“Your hypothetical is completely irrelevant to the issue we are discussing.”
“The Gallup survey shows similar results to those of a recent CNN poll that also indicated the same three Republicans are locked in hypothetical race for the party's nomination.”
“Scales said he was speaking to Sterner in hypothetical terms.”
“According to the survey, Dodd is losing or tied with all of his potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2010 general election matchups.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hypothetical’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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wingblossom's Words
flicker, wrinkle, solipsism, tea, aurora, lilt, burnt, crescent, gale, pocket, ephemeral, candied and 136 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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five syllables
ontogenesis, phylogenesis, concatenation, androgenesis, extra textual, inexorably, spagyrically, apophenia, iatrochemist, monocotyloid, morphological, parthenogenic and 941 more...
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samuraizack's Words
floccinaucinihili..., pneumonoultramicr..., bombastic, existentialistic, velocipede, aglet, anatomical snuffbox, wonk, tang, funambulist, quakebuttock, flews and 390 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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Units Of Language
Word:
-a unit of language consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.sulk, promenade, skulk, idle, subsequently, moody, paroxysm, felony, anent, generic, hallucinogen, synaesthesia and 215 more...
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oneasterism's words
Words that I like, that I don't use often enough, that are new to me, that friends and family have taught me, and so on.
lugubrious, reticent, eschelon, missive, penchant, copious, conspicuous, tranquil, redolent, asinine, inane, dilatory and 625 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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The List Of Words That Rewrote The Hi...
Ah, yeah, this is a list of words that I think sound pretty funny... or dumb, either way, I like 'em so, yeah.
flabergasted, smash, wang, wordie, drum, rumplestiltskin, resistance, watt, hindu, universal serial bus, bearing, nematode and 138 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hypothetical.
jmjarmstrong JM asks have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? Aug 12, 2011
jmjarmstrong JM asks have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? Aug 12, 2011
jmjarmstrong JM asks have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? Aug 12, 2011