probable

English

Etymology

From Middle English probable, from Old French probable, from Latin probābilis (“that may be proved, credible”), from probāre (“to test, examine”); see probe, probity, prove. Compare recent doublet provable.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbəbl̩/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑbəbl̩/
- Audio (US): (file)
Hyphenation: prob‧a‧ble

Adjective

probable (comparative more probable, superlative most probable)

Likely or most likely to be true.
It's probable that it will rain tomorrow.

The probable source of the failure was the mass of feathers in the intake manifold.
- 1959 October, Michael Robbins, “The Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 721:
  A major accident and embezzlement of its funds seem to have been the only disasters it escaped; and as to the latter, the most probable reason is that it never had any quantity of funds worth embezzling.
Likely to happen.
With all the support we have, success is looking probable.
Supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating.
- 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
  probable evidence
- 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 8:
  From an examination of the Teutonic words for "temple" Grimm has made it probable that amongst the Germans the oldest sanctuaries were natural woods.
(obsolete) Capable of being proved.

Antonyms

improbable

Derived terms

Translations

likely to be true

Armenian: հավանական (hy) (havanakan)
Asturian: probable
Belarusian: праўдападо́бны (prawdapadóbny), вераго́дны (be) (vjerahódny)
Bulgarian: правдоподо́бен (bg) (pravdopodóben), вероя́тен (bg) (verojáten)
Catalan: probable (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 可能 (zh) (kěnéng)
Czech: pravděpodobný (cs) m
Esperanto: probabla (eo), verŝajna
Estonian: tõenäoline
Finnish: todennäköinen (fi), luultava (fi)
French: probable (fr)
Galician: probable (gl), probábel (gl)
Georgian: შესაძლო (šesaʒlo), სავარაუდო (savaraudo)
German: glaubhaft (de), wahrscheinlich (de)
Greek: πιθανός (el) (pithanós)
Hebrew: סָבִיר (he) (savír)
Hindi: संभावना (hi) f (sambhāvnā), संभावित (hi) (sambhāvit)
Hungarian: valószínű (hu)
Ido: probabla (io)
Irish: is dóigh
Italian: probabile (it)
Japanese: 起こりそうな (ja) (okorisō na), 高確率の (kōkakuritsu no)
Latin: probabilis
Latvian: ticams, iespējams
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sannsynlig (no)

Nynorsk: sannsynleg
Occitan: probable (oc)
Polish: prawdopodobny (pl)
Portuguese: provável (pt)
Romanian: probabil (ro) m or n
Russian: правдоподо́бный (ru) (pravdopodóbnyj), вероя́тный (ru) (verojátnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: вероватан, вјероватан, веројатан, вјеројатан

Latin: verovatan (sh), vjerovatan, verojatan, vjerojatan (sh)
Slovak: pravdepodobný
Slovene: verjeten
Spanish: probable (es)
Ukrainian: правдоподі́бний (uk) (pravdopodíbnyj), імові́рний (uk) (imovírnyj) / ймові́рний (uk) (jmovírnyj)
Volapük: luveratik (vo)

likely to happen

Armenian: հավանական (hy) (havanakan)
Asturian: probable
Belarusian: вераго́дны (be) (vjerahódny)
Catalan: probable (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 可能 (zh) (kěnéng)
Esperanto: probabla (eo), verŝajna
Finnish: todennäköinen (fi)
French: probable (fr)
Galician: probable (gl), probábel (gl)
German: wahrscheinlich (de)
Greek: πιθανός (el) (pithanós), ενδεχόμενος (endechómenos)
Hindi: संभावना (hi) f (sambhāvnā)
Hungarian: valószínű (hu)
Japanese: 起こりそうな (ja) (okorisō na), 高確率の (kōkakuritsu no)
Latin: probabilis
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sannsynlig (no)

Nynorsk: sannsynleg
Occitan: probable (oc)
Portuguese: provável (pt)
Russian: вероя́тный (ru) (verojátnyj)
Spanish: probable (es)
Ukrainian: імові́рний (uk) (imovírnyj) / ймові́рний (uk) (jmovírnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} waarschijnlijk (nl) (1,2,3)

Noun

probable (plural probables)

Something that is likely.
- 2013, Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, Christopher Shores, Japanese Naval Fighter Aces 1932-45, page 57:
  Four of the 32 251 Ku aircraft turned back, but the other 28 fought for 20 minutes against a reported 100 enemy aircraft, claiming 18 destroyed and five probables.
A person who is likely to appear or do a certain thing.