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IMPROBABLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Too improbable to admit of belief
Example:
a tall story
Synonyms:
improbable; marvellous; marvelous; tall
Classified under:
Similar:
incredible; unbelievable (beyond belief or understanding)
Derivation:
improbableness (the quality of being improbable)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not likely to be true or to occur or to have occurred
Example:
an improbable event
Synonyms:
improbable; unlikely
Classified under:
Similar:
supposed (mistakenly believed)
Antonym:
probable (likely but not certain to be or become true or real)
Derivation:
improbability; improbableness (the quality of being improbable)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having a probability too low to inspire belief
Synonyms:
improbable; unbelievable; unconvincing; unlikely
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
implausible (having a quality that provokes disbelief)
Derivation:
improbableness (the quality of being improbable)
Context examples:
Her own fortune she had taken care to secure; and when her mother died—and it was wholly improbable, she tranquilly remarked, that she should either recover or linger long—she would execute a long-cherished project: seek a retirement where punctual habits would be permanently secured from disturbance, and place safe barriers between herself and a frivolous world.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It was a painful, but not an improbable, conjecture.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
At the same time, my dear, if they should condescend to reply to your communications—which our joint experience renders most improbable—far be it from me to be a barrier to your wishes.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Is there not one alternative,” I suggested, grotesquely improbable, no doubt, but still just conceivable?
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It seems most improbable.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He knew her to be very timid, and exceedingly nervous; and thought it not improbable that her mind might be in such a state as a little time, a little pressing, a little patience, and a little impatience, a judicious mixture of all on the lover's side, might work their usual effect on.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Detractors are pleased to think it improbable, that so illustrious a person should descend to give so great a mark of distinction to a creature so inferior as I. Neither have I forgotten how apt some travellers are to boast of extraordinary favours they have received.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth's change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
When this appeared improbable for that night, I undressed, and went to bed; and, there, I began to wonder fearfully what would be done to me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
