Meaning & use
falsifiable hypothesis
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A proposed explanation that is stated clearly enough that some possible observation or experiment could show it to be wrong.
Grammar: Countable: a falsifiable hypothesis, several falsifiable hypotheses.
Patterns
- test a falsifiable hypothesis
- formulate a falsifiable hypothesis
A good experiment begins with a falsifiable hypothesis that can be tested.
Saying that the plant will grow taller with more light is a falsifiable hypothesis.
The teacher asked students to rewrite their guesses as falsifiable hypotheses.
Word forms
| plural | falsifiable hypotheses |
|---|
Common combinations
- formulate a falsifiable hypothesis
- Scientists must formulate a falsifiable hypothesis first.
- test a falsifiable hypothesis
- The team tested a falsifiable hypothesis about soil acidity.
- a clear falsifiable hypothesis
- The study lacked a clear falsifiable hypothesis.
- propose a falsifiable hypothesis
- She proposed a falsifiable hypothesis about sleep and memory.
Synonyms and how they differ
- testable hypothesis
- Testable hypothesis is a plainer phrase; falsifiable stresses that evidence could prove it wrong.
- scientific hypothesis
- Scientific hypothesis is broader and assumes testability instead of naming it.
- working hypothesis
- A working hypothesis is one you use for now, whether or not it can be falsified.
Opposites
Word family
- falsify verb
- to show to be false
- falsifiability noun
- the quality of being possible to prove wrong
- falsification noun
- the act of proving something false
- hypothesis noun
- a proposed explanation to be tested
Commonly confused: falsifiable hypothesis or falsify?
falsifiable hypothesis vs falsify
In everyday English falsify means to fake documents, but in science falsifiable only means able to be proved wrong by evidence.
Practice
Which statement is a falsifiable hypothesis?
Choose one answer.
Only the metal claim can be checked by experiment and could be proved wrong. The others are opinions or sayings that cannot be tested.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “falsifiable hypothesis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.