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
- 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 Greek hupothetikos, from hupothetos, placed under, supposed, from hupotithenai, to suppose; see hypothesis.
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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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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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 4084 more...
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Words related to knowledge
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revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 466 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
phantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 294 more...
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