Library / English Dictionary

HYPOTHESIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

Example:

Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

Synonyms:

conjecture; hypothecate; hypothesise; hypothesize; speculate; suppose; theorise; theorize

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "hypothesize" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hypothesize"):

construct; reconstruct; retrace (reassemble mentally)

develop; explicate; formulate (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They hypothesize that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

hypothesis (a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena)

hypothesis (a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence)

hypothesis (a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Many immunologists hypothesize that food allergens may reach immune cells more easily through a dysfunctional skin barrier affected by atopic dermatitis, thereby setting off biological processes that result in food allergies.

(Scientists identify unique subtype of eczema linked to food allergy, National Institutes of Health)

Because these tiny frogs are brightly colored, diurnal and known to use visual signals, the researchers hypothesize that visual communication has replaced acoustic communication.

(Tiny Brazilian Frogs Deaf to Own Calls, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Scientists hypothesize that the growth of complex organic molecules like PAHs is one of the steps leading to the emergence of life.

(“Kitchen Smoke” Molecules in Nebula Offer Clues to the Building Blocks of Life, NASA)

He hypothesizes that essentially it started out as a dry rock and rapidly accreted hydrogen from a primordial disk of gas when its star was very young.

(Atmosphere of Midsize Planet Revealed by Hubble, Spitzer, NASA)

"We hypothesized these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."

(Jupiter's great red spot is shrinking, NASA)

They hypothesize that such individuals might be at increased risk for alcohol use disorder or emotional dysfunction problems, which are hallmarks of chronic exposure to high levels of stress.

(Researchers identify brain circuits that help people cope with stress, NIH)

Though long hypothesized, the first evidence for a debris disk around any star was uncovered in 1983 with NASA's Infrared Astronomical Satellite.

(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)

Either the Kolmogorov-Smirnov one-sample test, a goodness-of-fit test, that tests whether an observed dataset is consistent with an hypothesized theoretical distribution or the Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test, a test of the null hypothesis that two independent samples have been drawn from the same population (or from populations with the same distribution).

(Komogorov-Smirnov Test, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers estimate the hypothesized moonlets in Uranus' rings would be 2 to 9 miles (4 to 14 kilometers) in diameter — as small as some identified moons of Saturn, but smaller than any of Uranus' known moons.

(Uranus May Have Two Undiscovered Moons, NASA)

The NIAID researchers and their colleagues hypothesized that administration of BCG by IV or aerosol (AE) routes would overcome this hurdle and thus confer substantially better protection from infection and/or disease in rhesus macaques following challenge with virulent Mtb.

(Changed route of immunization dramatically improves efficacy of TB vaccine, National Institutes of Health)