Hypothetical or theoretical?
hypothetical is an adjective meaning “Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural”; theoretical is an adjective meaning “Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) theoretical is about 2.5 times as common as hypothetical.
What is the difference between hypothetical and theoretical?
| hypothetical | theoretical | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective |
| Meaning | Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural Conditional; contingent upon some hypothesis/antecedent A possible or hypothetical situation or proposition | Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical |
| Example | These hypotheticals serve no purpose until we have more information | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/ [ˌhaɪpəˈθɛɾɪkəɫ] | /ˌθɪəˈɹɛtɪkəl/ [ˌθɪə̯ˈɹɛt.ɪ.kl̩] /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/ |
| In writing | 4.1 times per million words | 10 times per million words |
Sources: hypothetical and theoretical in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hypothetical and theoretical
hypothetical
- 1
Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural
- 2
A possible or hypothetical situation or proposition
These hypotheticals serve no purpose until we have more information
- 3
Conditional; contingent upon some hypothesis/antecedent
theoretical
- 1
Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hypothetical or theoretical?
hypothetical appears 4.1 times per million words; theoretical 10 times per million words.
hypothetical 4.1 times per million wordstheoretical 10 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search hypothetical vs theoretical?
“hypothetical vs theoretical” is searched about 2,400 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“theoretical vs hypothetical”, “hypothetical or theoretical”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.