If something is hypothetical, it is based on possible ideas or situations rather than actual ones.
Let's look at a hypothetical situation in which Carol, a recovering cocaine addict, gets invited to a party.
...a purely hypothetical question.
= theoretical
ADJ
• hypothetically
He was invariably willing to discuss the possibilities hypothetically...
= theoretically
ADV: usu ADV with v, ADV with cl, also ADV adj