unlikely en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English unlykely, unlikly, unlykly, unlicli. By surface analysis, un- + likely.
Meanings
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Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected.
The Saturday evening Cardiff-West Wales mail train is still steam-worked, but a most unlikely locomotive used on May 23 was Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45250 (5A); it returned on May 25 with a train of steel billets.
1964 July, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Modern Railways, page 70:Nor had the post mortem on Newson's body revealed any illness or other physical condition that might have prevented him from applying the brake, although after four days in the oven-like heat of the wreckage, the body was so badly decomposed as to make any reliable post mortem results unlikely.
2025 February 19, Mike Lewis, “Tragedy at Moorgate”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 59, about the Moorgate tube crash:It is pretty unlikely that you'll win, but I will pray that at least you do well.
Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor.
1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter X, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:In the highly unlikely event of landing in water, lifejackets are stored under the seat.
Saturday’s tariffs are unlikely to be Trump’s last. The president said himself said in the Oval Office that additional tariffs could come by mid-February on chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, copper, oil and gas imports – along with tariffs on the European Union – all threats that few would discount given his willingness to follow through on the North American and China tariffs on Saturday.
2025 February 1, Kevin Liptak, “With stiff tariffs he promised now in place, Trump opens a new trade war”, in CNN:
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Not holding out a prospect of success; likely to fail; unpromising.
unlikely means
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more unlikely | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| unlikeliest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| most unlikely | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| unlikelier | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Translations (29)
eo neverŝajna (not likely) · hu valószínűtlen (not likely) · ga ní móide (not likely) · pl mało prawdopodobny (not likely) · aeb صْعِيبْ (not likely) · kk алмағайып (not likely) · bg неправдоподобен (not likely) · bg невероятен (not likely) · it improbabile (not likely) · ca improbable (not likely) · ru маловероя́тный (not likely) · sv osannolikt (not likely) · fi epätodennäköinen (not likely) · nl onwaarschijnlijk (not likely) · hy անհավանական (not likely) · gl improbábel (not likely) · be невераго́дны (not likely) · el απίθανος (not likely) · es improbable (not likely) · ar مِنْ غَيْرِ المُرَجَّحِ (not likely) · nn neppe (not likely) · cmn 不可能的 (not likely) · pl nieprawdopodobny (not likely) · ro improbabil (not likely) · fr peu probable (not likely) · hy դժվար թե (not likely) · pt improvável (not likely) · de unwahrscheinlich (not likely) · fr improbable (not likely)