- 1假設的；假想的
Hypothetical describes a situation that is not real, but that you can imagine. You use it when you want to think about what would happen if something were true: a hypothetical question, a hypothetical case, a hypothetical risk. Teachers and scientists like this word because it keeps the “not real yet” part in view. It can also be a noun: a hypothetical is an imagined case. It does not mean someone is lying to you. A lie is offered as true; a hypothetical is offered as “what if.” Though actually, people sometimes hide a real hope inside a hypothetical (“This is just hypothetical, but if we dated…”), so listeners learn to hear the tone, not only the word. In casual chat, “what if” or “just imagine” is more common; hypothetical sounds a bit like school or careful discussion.
From the word’s history
From Ancient Greek hypothetikos.
源自希臘文 hypothetikos。
組成From Ancient Greek ὑποθετικός (hupothetikós). In English it sits with hypothesis: the “what if” idea, used as an adjective (and sometimes as a noun).
同家族的字
- hypothesisthe noun: the unproved idea you are imagining from
- hypothesizethe verb: to offer that kind of idea
- hypotheticallythe adverb made from this word
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
hypotheticaladj/ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/
- 1
Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural.
- Such a subjunctive as appears in the principal clause (i.e. the apodosis) of a conditional sentence may be called a hypothetical subjunctive. An hypothetical subjunctive expresses an action¹ which, while its non-occurrence is implied, is yet supposed to occur, if some other action occur.
- To establish standing under Article III, a plaintiff must satisfy the following three requirements: (1) "the plaintiff must have suffered an injury in fact - an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical"; ...
- 2
human-sciencesphilosophysciencesConditional; contingent upon some hypothesis/antecedent.
hypotheticalnoun/ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/
- 1
A possible or hypothetical situation or proposition.
- These hypotheticals serve no purpose until we have more information.
- He told ABC News: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black sea.”
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。