probably

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English probably, probabily, equivalent to probable +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒb.ə.bli/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɒb.li/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɑ.bə.bli/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɑ.(b)li/, (colloquial) /ˈpɹɑə(b)li/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Dublin) IPA(key): /ˈpɹab.li/

Adverb

probably (comparative more probably, superlative most probably)

  1. In all likelihood.
    Synonyms: likely, in all probability, more than likely, belike (archaic), mostly (India, proscribed)
    Coordinate terms: as like as not, as likely as not; possibly, maybe, perhaps, mayhap, mayhaps, perchance, haply; presumably; certainly, definitely, doubtless (sometimes synonymous), doubtlessly (sometimes synonymous), indubitably, undoubtably, undoubtedly, unquestionably, without a doubt, without doubt, indisputably
    She probably has arrived by now.   =   She has probably arrived by now.   =   Probably she has arrived by now.
    He'll probably arrive tomorrow.   =   He probably will arrive tomorrow.   =   Probably he'll arrive tomorrow.
    It is probably too late for amends.   =   It probably is too late for amends.   =   Probably it is too late for amends.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Christian Justice”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section III (Of Negotiation, or Civil Contracts), page 208:
      [S]uch courſes wil more probably advance his trade, they wil certainly procure him a bleſſing, […]
    • 1921, Ben Travers, “Westward Ho!”, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC, part I (“Come He Will”), pages 1–2:
      [The Bunters] send me Christmas cards; generally 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 Bunters, 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.

Translations

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