HYPOTHESIS


Meaning of HYPOTHESIS in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ hī-ˈpä-thə-səs ]

noun

( plural hy·poth·e·ses -ˌsēz)

Etymology: Greek, from hypotithenai to put under, suppose, from hypo- + tithenai to put — more at do

Date: circa 1656

1.

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

2. : a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences

3. : the antecedent clause of a conditional statement

Synonyms:

hypothesis , theory , law mean a formula derived by inference from scientific data that explains a principle operating in nature. hypothesis implies insufficient evidence to provide more than a tentative explanation

a hypothesis explaining the extinction of the dinosaurs

theory implies a greater range of evidence and greater likelihood of truth

the theory of evolution

law implies a statement of order and relation in nature that has been found to be invariable under the same conditions

the law of gravitation

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary.      Энциклопедический словарь английского языка Merriam Webster.