tentative
57
5.1
- adjective
- /ˈtɛntətɪv/
:
provisional
- Can you give us a tentative delivery date?
- a tentative agreement
- a tentative conclusion
- a tentative suggestion
Of the tentative goals, only one has to do with health.
- Of the tentative goals, only one has to do with health.
- We think of anxiety as the person who's worried, fretful, panicky, and tentative.
- Let me, because of time, let me just kind of jump to a few tentative conclusions and then I'll then I'll stop.
- It is like a brand new budding romance that's still tentative.
- And my experience has been so often the most fabulous, glorious ideas have come from a, a, a tentative suggestion.
- The dictatorship he may believe he has earned has gone in this week from crawling to taking its first few tentative steps.
- OK, having thus found tentative evidence that most people think extinction is kind of bad, what are the greatest risks?
- And so, and so you can take these tentative steps on your pathway to destiny and you can assume that you're going to do it badly.
- So say, what can go wrong is too tentative, it's too vague.
Examples
-
The researcher was able to identify tentative themes that provided context for future data collection processes.
Academic text (2008) -
On Sunday, the Senate reached a tentative deal on gun safety.
-
Of the tentative goals, only one has to do with health.
-
Well, that was only a tentative plan.
-
I think we can reach a tentative ruling.
-
Events over the past several years yield a tentative yet positive outlook.
Academic text (2012) -
Like, the logic became more and more apparent as I made those tentative steps.
-
These girls are a little bit more tentative than Bev was.
-
Katherine sagged against his desk and offered a tentative excuse and a tentative smile.
Fiction book (1991) -
The committee agreed on a tentative schedule for the upcoming events.
Synonyms
149
2.8
Not known for sure and likely to change
122
2.8
Not exact, only a simple first idea
55
6.1
Temporary for now and likely to change
11
7.0
Not clearly known or decided
1
7.5
Temporary and not final while waiting for approval
Antonyms
How Certain
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tentative comes from the old Latin verb tentare, which means 'to try'. A helpful way to remember it is to think of attempt: a tentative action is a first, unsure try, not a final decision.