probably

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), probabily, equivalent to probable + -ly.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒbəbli/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɒbli/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɑbəbli/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɑbli/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɑəbli/
  • (file)

Adverb

probably (comparative more probably, superlative most probably)

  1. In all likelihood.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes [] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”
    • 2013 May–June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
      Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close [] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

Synonyms

(in all likelihood):

Coordinate terms

Translations

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