unlikely

unlikely

English

Etymology

un- +‎ likely

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈlaɪkli/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

unlikely (comparative unlikelier or more unlikely, superlative unlikeliest or most unlikely)

1. Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected.

   It's very unlikely that you'll be able to walk perfectly after being in a cast for six months.

   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor.

2. Not holding out a prospect of success; likely to fail; unpromising.

   unlikely means

Translations

not likely

Armenian: անհավանական (hy) (anhavanakan), դժվար թե (džvar tʿe) Belarusian: невераго́дны (njevjerahódny) Catalan: improbable (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 不可能的 (bù kěnéng de) Dutch: onwaarschijnlijk (nl) Finnish: epätodennäköinen (fi) French: peu probable, improbable (fr) Galician: improbábel (gl) m or f German: unwahrscheinlich (de)

Greek: απίθανος (el) (apíthanos) Hungarian: valószínűtlen (hu) Irish: ní móide Italian: improbabile (it) m Norwegian: Nynorsk: neppe Portuguese: improvável (pt) m or f Romanian: improbabil (ro), improbabilă f Russian: маловероя́тный (ru) (maloverojátnyj) Spanish: improbable (es)

Adverb

unlikely (comparative more unlikely, superlative most unlikely)

1. In an improbable manner.

Translations

in an improbable manner

Belarusian: наўра́д (naŭrád) Chinese: Mandarin: 未必 (zh) (wèibì) Dutch: onwaarschijnlijk (nl) Finnish: epätodennäköisesti French: improbablement (fr)

Portuguese: improvavelmente Romanian: în mod improbabil, puțin probabil Russian: вря́д ли (ru) (vrjád li), навря́д ли (ru) (navrjád li), едва́ ли (ru) (jedvá li) Spanish: improbablemente (es) Ukrainian: навря́д (navrjád), навря́д чи (navrjád čy)

Noun

unlikely (plural unlikelies)

1. Something or somebody considered unlikely.
   • 1980, Robert K. Lindsay, Applications of artificial intelligence for organic chemistry

     The molecular ion candidates are divided by the testing phase into three categories: rejects, unlikelies, and probables. Differences between each candidate and the prominent peaks in the spectrum are computed.

   • 1996, Laurie R. King, To Play the Fool

     "Here is my every possible phone number, plus a few unlikelies. And I've also put down the numbers of Karin and Wade, in case you've lost them. Karin can come anytime; Wade, up until six in the morning."

   • 2001, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marci Shimoff, Chicken soup for the mother's soul 2 (page 166)

     Then the most unlikely of unlikelies happened. We got another phone call. Another woman wanted to give us a baby—a boy, born just that morning. We walked into a hospital, and he was placed into my arms.

References

• unlikely in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.