hypothesis

Academic Word List, sublist 4.

About 26.84 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun A tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem and that can be tested by further observation, investigation, or experimentation.
2. noun An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
3. noun The antecedent of a conditional statement.

Similar words

theory conjecture supposition guess surmise possibility speculation thesis idea postulate

Often followed by

that of is and was testing in to for

Word family

hypotheses hypothesise hypothesised hypothesises hypothesising hypothesize hypothesized hypothesizes hypothesizing hypothetical