Wiktionary
n. (context informal English) A speculation as to what might have happened if something else had happened earlier. vb. (context informal English) To speculate about the consequences of something that could have happened.
Usage examples of "what-if".
They were already far into the next century, sniffing the wind, testing the air, communing with the questers, pushing things on and through, asking endless what-ifs, checking for implausible or non-existent ecological anomalies.
If I can smoke her, wind her in with words, with what-ifs, with all the bifurcations of her strategy-tree, just long enough to get her eye off the one real now.
If I can smoke her, wind her in with words, with what-ifs, with all the bifurcations of her strategy-tree, just long enough to get her eye off the one real now .