Unlikely

//ʌnˈlaɪkli// adj, adv, noun

adj, adv, noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something or somebody considered unlikely.

    "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."

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

    "It is pretty unlikely that you'll win, but I will pray that at least you do well."

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

    "unlikely means"

Adjective
  1. 1
    has little chance of being the case or coming about wordnet
  2. 2
    not likely to be true or to occur or to have occurred wordnet
  3. 3
    having a probability too low to inspire belief wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In an improbable manner.

Synonyms

All synonyms
improbabledistastefuldoubtabledoubtfuldubiousdubitable

Example

More examples

"But the possibility seems unlikely."

Etymology

From Middle English unlykely, unlikly, unlykly, unlicli, equivalent to un- + likely.

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