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hypothesis 14 results
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- - A hypothesis is a statement of what is deemed possibly true, assumed and reasoned upon as if certainly true, with a view of reaching truth not yet surely known; especially, in the sciences, a hypothesis is a comprehensive tentative explanation of certain phenomena, which is meant to include all other facts of the same class, and which is assumed as true till there has been opportunity to bring all related facts into comparison; if the hypothesis explains all the facts, it is regarded as verified; till then it is regarded as a working hypothesis, that is, one that may answer for present practical purposes. A hypothesis may be termed a comprehensive guess. A guess is a swift conclusion from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while one confessedly lacks material for absolute certainty. A conjecture is more methodical than a guess, while a supposition is still slower and more settled; a conjecture, like a guess, is preliminary and tentative; a supposition is more nearly final; a surmise is more floating and visionary, and often sinister; as, a surmise that a stranger may be a pickpocket. Theory is used of the mental coordination of facts and principles, that may or may not prove correct; a machine may be perfect in theory, but useless in fact. Scheme may be used as nearly equivalent to theory, but is more frequently applied to proposed action, and in the sense of a somewhat visionary plan. A speculation may be wholly of the brain, resting upon no facts worthy of consideration; system is the highest of these terms, having most of assurance and fixity; a system unites many facts, phenomena, or doctrines into an orderly and consistent whole; we speak of a system of theology, of the Copernican system of the universe. Compare SYSTEM.
