hīˈpäthəsə̇s noun
( plural hypothe·ses -əˌsēz)
Etymology: Latin, from Greek, from hypotithenai to suppose, propose, put under, from hypo- + tithenai to place, put — more at do
1. : a proposition tentatively assumed in order to draw out its logical or empirical consequences and so test its accord 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
2.
a. : an assumption or concession made for the sake of argument
b. : an interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the ground for action
3. : the antecedent clause in a conditional statement
4. : a hypothetical relation : the conditioning of one thing by another