hypothetico-deductive method: Meaning and Definition of

hy•po•thet'i•co-de•duc'tive meth"od

Pronunciation: (hī"pu-thet'i-kō-di-duk'tiv), [key]
— Logic. Logic.
  1. a method in which a hypothetical model based on observations is proposed and is then tested by the deduction of consequences from the model.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.