All 3 Uses of
hypothesis
in
1st to Die, by Patterson
- "My concern," Raleigh said, "is that I don't want the department intruding on the grief of the families with a lot of hypotheticals until we have more to go on.†
p. 59.0 *hypotheticals = things that may or may not be true, but are temporarily treated as true to advance a discussion or to further investigation
- What you're giving me back is a set of hypotheticals.†
p. 347.8
- As you say, all I have is a bunch of hypotheticals.†
p. 380.6
Definitions:
-
(1)
(hypothesis as in: a study to test her hypothesis) a seemingly reasonable, but unproven idea or explanation based upon known factsIn casual conversation, theory is a synonym for hypothesis, but a scientist would say that a hypothesis needs to pass rigorous tests before it could be accepted as a theory.
-
(2)
(hypothesis as in: assume as a working hypothesis) something that may or may not be true, but is temporarily treated as true to advance a discussion or to further investigationThis sense of hypothesis is typically seen in the form, hypothetical, or hypothetically.