Doubtful

//ˈdaʊtfəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A doubtful person or thing.

    "They had their lists of Liberals and of the doubtfuls who still remained doubtful. As the election drew near, the force of the whole organization was turned upon these unrepentant doubtfuls."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Subject to, or causing doubt.
  2. 2
    Experiencing or showing doubt, skeptical.
  3. 3
    Undecided or of uncertain outcome.
  4. 4
    Fearsome, dreadful. obsolete
  5. 5
    Improbable or unlikely.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Suspicious, or of dubious character.

    "Yet it is not the predominant views of the experts but the views of a minority, mostly of rather doubtful standing in their profession, which are taken up and spread by the intellectuals."

  2. 7
    Unclear or unreliable.

    "The pupils of her great eyes were large in the doubtful lamplight, swallowing their green fires in deep pools of mystery and darkness."

Adjective
  1. 1
    fraught with uncertainty or doubt wordnet
  2. 2
    open to doubt or suspicion wordnet
  3. 3
    unsettled in mind or opinion wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
in questionuncertaindiceya bit thicka bit thinabsurd

Example

More examples

"I'm doubtful about what I ought to do."

Etymology

From Middle English doutfull, douteful, equivalent to doubt + -ful.

Related phrases

Doubtful Creek

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.