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hy·poth·e·cate (hī-pŏthĭ-kāt)
Share:
tr.v. hy·poth·e·cat·ed, hy·poth·e·cat·ing, hy·poth·e·cates
1. To pledge (property) as security or collateral without delivery of title or possession.
2. Usage Problem To hypothesize.

[Medieval Latin hypothēcāre, hypothēcāt-, from Latin hypothēca, pledge, deposit, from Greek hupothēkē, from hupotithenai, to give as a pledge, suppose; see HYPOTHESIS.]

hy·pothe·cation n.
hy·pothe·cator n.

Usage Note: When used to mean "to formulate a hypothesis," hypothecate garners almost no acceptance from the Usage Panel. In our 2009 survey, 90 percent rejected it in the sentence One man hypothecated that the students were joyless because they were no longer curious.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.