hypothesis
(hɪp-, haɪˈpɒθɪsɪs)
Pl. hypotheses (-siːz).
[a. Gr. ὑπόθεσις foundation, base; hence, basis of an argument, supposition, also, subject-matter, etc., f. ὑπό under + θέσις placing.]
† 1. A subordinate particular thesis involved in a general thesis; a particular case of a general proposition. In quot. 1596, a particular or detailed statement. Cf. F. hypothèse (sense 3 in Littré). Obs.
| 1596 Earl of Essex in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. IV. 137 If I be commaunded to sett doune the Hypothesis, or to descend into particulars. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 10 note, The compound Theme is also (a) speciall, or (b) generall: (a) Hypothesis; (b) Thesis. Ibid. 204 To amplifie a speciall or particular sentence, called hypothesis. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (Vol. III.) 24 Without descending from the thesis to the hypothesis. a 1647 Filmer Patriarcha i. §1 (1884) 13 If the thesis be true, the hypothesis will follow. a 1721 J. Keill Maupertius' Diss. (1734) 49 Whence it is plain that there is no Hypothesis wherein the Spheroid is not flat at the Poles. |
† b. A proposition laid down; a thesis. Obs.
| 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. Introd. 1 Endeavoring to promote this Hypothesis. 1678 Ibid. III. Pref., It is..impossible..demonstratively to discusse such an hypothesis without some opposition against such as defend the antithesis. |
2. A proposition or principle put forth or stated (without any reference to its correspondence with fact) merely as a basis for reasoning or argument, or as a premiss from which to draw a conclusion; a supposition. In Logic, the supposition or condition forming the antecedent or protasis of a conjunctive or conditional proposition (e.g. If A is B, C is D): cf. hypothetical 1 b.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Hypothesis, a supposition or condition; sometimes it is taken for a Position of something, as it were demonstrated, and granted by another. 1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 263 Hypothesis is an argument or matter whereon one may dispute; or it is a conditional proposition. 1660 Barrow Euclid i. xxvii. (1714) 23 Which being supposed, the outward angle AEF will be greater than the inward angle DFE, to which it was equal by Hypothesis. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 3 An Hypothesis is a supposition assumed to be true, in order to argue from, or to found upon it the reasoning and demonstration of some proposition. 1837 Babbage Bridgew. Treat. App. E. 196 Collusion being, by hypothesis, out of the question. 1885 C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 67 The hypothesis is satisfied in the particular case where the rays a and a{p} coincide. |
b. An actual or possible condition or state of things considered or dealt with as a basis for action; one of several such possible conditions, a case or alternative (cf. 1).
| 1794 Burke Corr. IV. 217 The other hypothesis, upon which the war ought ‘to be carried on with vigour’, though last put, must be preliminary to the other. 1803 Wellington Let. to Col. Stevenson in Gurw. Desp. I. 545 In each of these last hypotheses, you will observe the necessity that we should be within reach of each other. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. v. 119 Christianity..only sanctions war..upon the hypothesis of a world at discord with herself. |
3. A supposition or conjecture put forth to account for known facts; esp. in the sciences, a provisional supposition from which to draw conclusions that shall be in accordance with known facts, and which serves as a starting-point for further investigation by which it may be proved or disproved and the true theory arrived at.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii. 60 Irons doe manifest a verticity not only upon refrigeration..but (what is wonderfull and advanceth the magneticall hypothesis) they evidence the same by meer position according as..their extreams [are] disposed..unto the earth. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 265 By a perpetuall motion of the Earth from West to East according to the new Hypotheses in Astronomy, or of the Sun from East to West, after the former Hypotheses. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 82 To make good the Atomical Hypothesis. 1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. i. v. 207 One of the conditions of a good hypothesis is, that it fairly comport..with all other phænomena of nature, as well as those 'tis framed to explicate. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1775) I. Diss. i. 22 A late ingenious critic has advanced an hypothesis, which assigns a new source, and a much earlier date, to these fictions. 1843 Mill Logic iii. xiv. §4 It appears..to be a condition of a genuinely scientific hypothesis, that it be not destined always to remain an hypothesis, but be of such a nature as to be either proved or disproved by that comparison with observed facts which is termed Verification. 1862 Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 67 Do not allow yourselves to be misled by the common notion that a hypothesis is untrustworthy simply because it is a hypothesis. 1893 Sir R. Ball In High Heav. ix. 212 The celebrated nebular hypotheses of Herschel and of Laplace. |
4. A supposition in general; something supposed or assumed to be true without proof or conclusive evidence; an assumption.
| 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 182 The Romanists..began..to cry him [Laud] up for their Proselyte. Upon this hypothesis..they grew excessive proud and insolent. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 352 That no other place in the East-Indies produces Gold..An Hypothesis found mistaken by such as drive a Trade for Gold..towards Cochin-China. 1827 Jarman Powell's Devises II. 353 The gift should first be read on the supposition that it is intended to embrace legitimate children, and if there be nothing in the terms..or..context, incompatible with this hypothesis [etc.]. 1868 Gladstone Juv. Mundi iii. (1870) 76 The hypothesis that the Pelasgians were the base of the Greek nation. |
b. Hence spec. A groundless or insufficiently grounded supposition; a mere assumption or guess.
| 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. iv. (1635) 87 Which later Astronomers..haue derided, or at least omitted as Hypotheses or suppositions. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) p. ix, To build Physick upon Hypotheses. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. vii, Your reasoning..seems plausible; but still it is only hypothesis. 1865 Seeley Ecce Homo v. (ed. 8) 46 The statement rests on no hypothesis or conjecture; his [Paul's] Epistles bear testimony to it. 1876 E. Mellor Priesth. i. 14 This explanation of Bellarmine..is a pure hypothesis, for which there is not a shadow of evidence in the New Testament itself. |
Hence hyˈpothesist, one who forms a hypothesis.
| 1788 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 431 The blank..must remain for some happier hypothesist to fill up. |