• What does 'hypothetically' mean?

We explain what it hypothetically means, the origin of the term and when it is used. Also, examples in sentences.

Something that happens hypothetically did not really happen, but could.

What does 'hypothetically' mean?

Hypothetical is understood as everything that occurs on the plane of suppositions, that is, of hypothesis, so that talking about something hypothetically means that you are simply imagining it and mentally evaluating it, that it is not an affirmation, but a proposal, a possibility, a hypothesis that must be tested in real life.

The words hypothetically and hypothetically derive from the Greek word hypothesis, composed of the voices hypo– (“under”) and theses ("proposition"). So in a figurative sense, a hypothesis is something that is “placed below”, that is, it is not really “placed”, as if it were occupying a tentative place, yet to be verified.

This occurs in the same sense that something is supposed, since this last word comes from the Latin voices sub- (“below”) and positive ("Market Stall"). The hypothetical, then, is something that has not yet taken its place, but could do so: something that requires verification or that is handled on the plane of the purely speculative.

Thus, when we say that something happens hypothetically, we are saying that it did not really happen, but that it could, or that we are simply evaluating the possibility of it happening.

For example, if we mentally evaluate what would happen if a certain politician won the elections, we are thinking of a hypothetical government, that is, we are thinking hypothetically.Its meaning comes to be more or less the same as "supposedly", "possibly", "allegedly", or even "in theory".

Here are some examples of sentences with this word:

• Once the virus is isolated, we could hypothetically synthesize a vaccine.
• Hypothetically, buying a lot of lottery numbers makes it more likely that you'll hit the jackpot.
• A country that invests in science and technology would find it easier to industrialize, hypothetically.
• Even if, hypothetically, we lose the next match, we will still be in second place in the championship.