Hypothesis

word of the day

noun

a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation

• Philosophy a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

New Oxford American Dictionary

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.

a proposition assumed as a premise in an argument.

the antecedent of a conditional proposition.

a mere assumption or guess.


Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.


A hypothesis is a tentative statement that proposes a possible explanation to some phenomenon or event. A useful hypothesis is a testable statement which may include a prediction. A hypotheses should not be confused with a theory. Theories are general explanations based on a large amount of data. For example, the theory of evolution applies to all living things and is based on wide range of observations. However, there are many things about evolution that are not fully understood such as gaps in the fossil record. Many hypotheses have been proposed and tested.

Writing hypotheses

Hypothesis

k12 explanation


ORIGIN late 16th cent.: via late Latin from Greek hupothesis ‘foundation’, from hupo ‘under’ + thesis ‘placing’.