hypothetical

comparative more hypothetical · superlative most hypothetical

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.

   1882, Henry John Roby, chapter XVIII, in A Latin grammar for schools, London: MacMillan and Co., Book IV : Syntax or use of Inflexional Forms, page 258

   1 more example

   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"; ...

   2006, ACLU v. NSA (District Court opinion)

2. human sciencesConditional; contingent upon some hypothesis/antecedent.

plural hypotheticals

1. A possible or hypothetical situation or proposition.

   These hypotheticals serve no purpose until we have more information.

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   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.”

   2022 October 2, Edward Helmore, quoting David Petraeus, “Petraeus: US would destroy Russia’s troops if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine”, in The Guardian

   Philosophers of doom tend to get hung up on elaborate sci-fi-inflected hypotheticals.

   2024 March 18, Andrew Marantz, “О.К., Doomer”, in The New Yorker, page 45