❓ Unlikely or suspicious 🤔 Not sure

doubtful

38 3.0

Not likely to be true or real

adjective
/ˈdaʊt.fəl/

: dudoso

It is doubtful whether he will finish the project on time.
seem doubtful
very doubtful
highly doubtful

Florida is a madhouse of doubtful sanity where everyone goes to die eventually.

Autoplay Next

Examples

But again, it is doubtful that they will do so on their own.

Academic text (1992)
And without an abiding capacity for citizenship, it is doubtful that democracy can flourish.

Academic text (2017)
And it's very doubtful that we do agree on the content of human rights.
And I remember hearing his story and thinking, this is great, but it's doubtful that anything like this could ever happen in India.
It's doubtful he actually built it, but he certainly wrote out the plans for one.

Crutch (2004)
If one does not understand the spoken word, it is doubtful that one can obtain the meaning from reading.

Academic text (1993)
Has it ever occurred to you that friendship, at best, is a rather doubtful asset?

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
In the age of satellites and Internet, it is doubtful that Trump TV as state TV could totally drown out outside voices.

GQ
The Manhattan Project has been plagued from the start by certain scientists of doubtful discretion and uncertain loyalty.

Oppenheimer (2023)
The government says plainly, that a nation of 17 million, Can't afford to spend the bulk of its defense budget On planes of doubtful strategic value.

The Arrow (1997)

Synonyms

unlikely

vsdoubtful

487 1.9

People do not expect it to happen or be true

includes that low likelihood but also adds a sense of suspicion

skeptical

vsdoubtful

286 4.2

Not easily believing that something is true

describes the thing itself as probably not true or genuine

questionable

vsdoubtful

176 3.9

Probably not true or trustworthy

focuses more narrowly on being unlikely or not genuine

in question

vsdoubtful

150 5.8

Not certain because people doubt or suspect it

is a broader label meaning likely suspect or not genuine

uncertain

vsdoubtful

149 2.8

Not known for sure and likely to change

leans more toward doubting truth or genuineness rather than just instability

dubious

vsdoubtful

90 6.5

Not clearly true or trustworthy and causing doubt

covers the same suspicion but in a more neutral, general sense

unsure

vsdoubtful

89 1.5

Not confident or certain about what to do

refers instead to the thing being seen as unlikely or suspicious

implausible

vsdoubtful

26 7.0

Not likely to be true or hard to believe

labels the same thing but with less emphasis on disbelief strength

unconvinced

vsdoubtful

12 5.1

Not sure that something is true or will work

judges the claim itself as unlikely or not genuine

a bit sketchy

vsdoubtful

Informal

1 8.6

A little suspicious and not easy to trust

is the standard term describing likely untruth or general uncertainty

doubty

vsdoubtful

Archaic

1 9.9

Not sure what will happen or what people will decide

is the modern common way to describe the same uncertainty

dubitable

vsdoubtful

Formal

9.9

Not clearly true or certain

is the neutral everyday expression for something seen as unlikely or suspicious

Antonyms

certain

946 1.0

Sure to happen or be true

How Doubtful

fraudulent

90 6.5

doubtful

38 3.0

suspicious

300 2.7

questionable

176 3.9

genuine

156 3.2

Surface Forms

doubtful positive

doubtfuler comparative

doubtfulest superlative

Morphology

doubtful = doubt (transparent) = doubt + ful

The evaluative sense 'open to doubt' or 'unlikely' is an expected extension of 'full of doubt' and remains predictable from the base.

Etymology

Doubtful comes from the old Latin word dubius ('two minds'), which gave the idea of not being fully trusted. That's why we call an explanation or story 'doubtful' when it seems unlikely or possibly false.