Dictionary

hypothetically en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree English hypothetical Middle English -ly English -ly English hypothetically From hypothetical + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a hypothetical way; as a hypothesis.
   • Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed Sunday that the President hypothetically could have shot the former FBI director to end the Russia investigation and not face prosecution for it while in office. 2018 June 3, Veronica Stracqualursi and Dana Bash, “Giuliani to HuffPost: Trump could have ‘shot James Comey’ and not be prosecuted”, in CNN:
   • He offered the proposition hypothetically.
2. Used to introduce a proposition to discussion without commitment to its truth.
   • Hypothetically, what would you say if I proposed marriage to you?
   • Hypothetically, Srinivasan suggests network states for people who eat specific diets (kosher, keto), for people who don’t like FDA regulation, for people who don’t like cancel culture, for people who want to live like Benedictine monks, for people who might want to limit internet use by putting public buildings in Faraday cages. 2024 February 5, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “Meet Me in the Eternal City”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:

Forms

Translations (10)

ru гипотети́чески (in a hypothetical way) · pl hipotetycznie (in a hypothetical way) · es hipotéticamente (in a hypothetical way) · pt hipoteticamente (in a hypothetical way) · nl hypothetisch (in a hypothetical way) · cs hypoteticky (in a hypothetical way) · fr hypothétiquement (in a hypothetical way) · ca hipotèticament (in a hypothetical way) · bg хипотети́чно (in a hypothetical way) · it ipoteticamente (in a hypothetical way)