based on situations or ideas that are possible and imagined rather than real and true a hypothetical question/situation/example Let us take the hypothetical case of Sheila, a mother of two… I wasn't asking about anybody in particular—it was a purely hypothetical question.
NAmE//ˌhaɪpəˈθɛt̮ɪkli//
adverbSee hypothetical in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: hypothetical