hypothesis
Origin of hypothesis
synonym study for hypothesis
OTHER WORDS FROM hypothesis
hy·poth·e·sist, nouncoun·ter·hy·poth·e·sis, noun, plural coun·ter·hy·poth·e·ses.sub·hy·poth·e·sis, noun, plural sub·hy·poth·e·ses.WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH hypothesis
1. hypothesis , law, theory (see synonym study at theory)2. deduction, extrapolation, induction, generalization, hypothesisWords nearby hypothesis
MORE ABOUT HYPOTHESIS
What is a hypothesis?
In science, a hypothesis is a statement or proposition that attempts to explain phenomena or facts. Hypotheses are often tested to see if they are accurate.
Crafting a useful hypothesis is one of the early steps in the scientific method, which is central to every field of scientific experimentation. A useful scientific hypothesis is based on current, accepted scientific knowledge and is testable.
Outside of science, the word hypothesis is often used more loosely to mean a guess or prediction.
Why is hypothesis important?
The first records of the term hypothesis come from around 1590. It comes from the Greek term hypóthesis, meaning “basis, supposition.”
Trustworthy science involves experiments and tests. In order to have an experiment, you need to test something. In science, that something is called a hypothesis. It is important to remember that, in science, a verified hypothesis is not actually confirmed to be an absolute truth. Instead, it is accepted to be accurate according to modern knowledge. Science always allows for the possibility that new information could disprove a widely accepted hypothesis.
Related to this, scientists will usually only propose a new hypothesis when new information is discovered because there is no reason to test something that is already accepted as scientifically accurate.
Did you know … ?
It can take a long time and even the discovery of new technology to confirm that a hypothesis is accurate. Physicist Albert Einstein’s 1916 theory of relativity contained hypotheses about space and time that have only been confirmed recently, thanks to modern technology!
What are real-life examples of hypothesis?
While in science, hypothesis has a narrow meaning, in general use its meaning is broader.
"This study confirms the hypothesis that individuals who have been infected with COVID-19 have persistent objectively measurable cognitive deficits." (N=81,337)
Ventilation subgroup show 7-point reduction in IQ https://t.co/50xrNNHC5E
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) July 23, 2021
Not everyone drives. They can walk, cycle, catch a train, tram etc. That’s alternatives. What’s your alternative in your hypothesis?
— Barry (@Bazzaboy1982) July 27, 2021
What other words are related to hypothesis?
Quiz yourself!
True or False?
In science, a hypothesis must be based on current scientific information and be testable.
How to use hypothesis in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for hypothesis
Derived forms of hypothesis
hypothesist, nounWord Origin for hypothesis
Scientific definitions for hypothesis
Usage
The words hypothesis, law, and theory refer to different kinds of statements, or sets of statements, that scientists make about natural phenomena. A hypothesis is a proposition that attempts to explain a set of facts in a unified way. It generally forms the basis of experiments designed to establish its plausibility. Simplicity, elegance, and consistency with previously established hypotheses or laws are also major factors in determining the acceptance of a hypothesis. Though a hypothesis can never be proven true (in fact, hypotheses generally leave some facts unexplained), it can sometimes be verified beyond reasonable doubt in the context of a particular theoretical approach. A scientific law is a hypothesis that is assumed to be universally true. A law has good predictive power, allowing a scientist (or engineer) to model a physical system and predict what will happen under various conditions. New hypotheses inconsistent with well-established laws are generally rejected, barring major changes to the approach. An example is the law of conservation of energy, which was firmly established but had to be qualified with the revolutionary advent of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. A theory is a set of statements, including laws and hypotheses, that explains a group of observations or phenomena in terms of those laws and hypotheses. A theory thus accounts for a wider variety of events than a law does. Broad acceptance of a theory comes when it has been tested repeatedly on new data and been used to make accurate predictions. Although a theory generally contains hypotheses that are still open to revision, sometimes it is hard to know where the hypothesis ends and the law or theory begins. Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, for example, consists of statements that were originally considered to be hypotheses (and daring at that). But all the hypotheses of relativity have now achieved the authority of scientific laws, and Einstein's theory has supplanted Newton's laws of motion. In some cases, such as the germ theory of infectious disease, a theory becomes so completely accepted, it stops being referred to as a theory.
Cultural definitions for hypothesis
plur. hypotheses (heye-poth-uh-seez)
In science, a statement of a possible explanation for some natural phenomenon. A hypothesis is tested by drawing conclusions from it; if observation and experimentation show a conclusion to be false, the hypothesis must be false. (See scientific method and theory.)