hypothesize

verb

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, ambitransitive)To assume or assert tentatively on uncertain grounds.

   “When hormones signal breast cells to divide more rapidly, scientists hypothesize, they increase breast cancer risk by causing precancerous or cancerous cells to multiply.”

   “Census response is thus a reasonable proxy for civicminded attitudes and cooperation that are hypothesized to improve governmental performance.”

   “Dahood hypothesizes an occurrence of a verb rihham ('to conceive, enwomb')”

   “I don’t dispute that some cases of this sort—involving a subject who differentially doubts what, pretheoretically, we would take to be one and the same thought-content, entertained twice—might be best described by hypothesizing a difference in content.”