probably

English

Alternative forms

• prob'ly (colloquial), probly (colloquial), prolly (colloquial)

Etymology

From probable +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbəbli/
• (Received Pronunciation, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒbli/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑbəbli/
• (General American, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑbli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adverb

probably ‎(comparative more probably, superlative most probably)

1. In all likelihood.
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest^[1]:

     “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes […] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close […] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

Synonyms

• (in all likelihood): likely, perhaps, maybe, possibly, presumably, most likely, doubtless, in all probability, perchance, as likely as not, as like as not

Translations

in all likelihood

• Arabic: مِن اَلْمُحْتَمَل ‎(min al-muḥtamal), رُبَّمَا ‎(rubbamā)

  Moroccan Arabic: بقيلا ‎(bəqila)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: верагодна ‎(verahódna), напэўна ‎(napéŭna)
• Bulgarian: вероятно (bg) ‎(verojátno)
• Catalan: probablement
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大概 (zh) ‎(dàgài), 或許, 或许 (zh) ‎(huòxú)

• Czech: pravděpodobně (cs), asi (cs), spíš (cs), spíše (cs)
• Danish: antageligvis
• Dutch: waarschijnlijk (nl)
• Esperanto: verŝajne (eo), kredeble
• Finnish: todennäköisesti (fi), luultavasti (fi)
• French: probablement (fr), sans doute (fr), sûrement (fr)
• Georgian: ალბათ ‎(albat)
• German: wahrscheinlich (de), glaublich
• Greek: πιθανώς (el) ‎(pithanós), μάλλον (el) ‎(mállon)
• Hebrew: כנראה ‎(kanir'é)
• Hungarian: valószínűleg (hu)
• Icelandic: líklega (is), sennilega
• Ido: probable (io)
• Indonesian: mungkin (id), kemungkinan (id)
• Interlingua: probabilemente
• Italian: probabilmente (it)
• Japanese: 多分 ‎(tabun), 十中八九 (ja) ‎(jucchūhakku), 恐らく (ja) ‎(osoraku)
• Khmer: មុខជា ‎(muk cie)
• Korean: 아마 (ko) ‎(ama)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: له‌وانه‌یه‌ ‎(lewaneye)

• Latin: probabiliter, fortasse/fortassis
• Latvian: droši vien
• Lojban: la'a
• Macedonian: веројатно ‎(verojatno)
• Malay: barangkali
• Maori: puano
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: antakeligvis, trolig (no)
• Polish: prawdopodobnie (pl)
• Portuguese: provavelmente (pt)
• Romanian: probabil (ro)
• Russian: вероя́тно (ru) ‎(verojátno), наве́рно (ru) ‎(navérno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вероватно / вјероватно, веројатно / вјеројатно

  Roman: verovatno (sh) / vjerovatno, verojatno / vjerojatno (sh)

• Slovak: pravdepodobne
• Slovene: verjetno
• Spanish: probablemente (es)
• Swedish: nog (sv), sannolikt (sv), troligen (sv), antagligen (sv), förmodligen (sv), troligtvis (sv)
• Thai: ท่าจะ ‎(tâa jà)
• Turkish: muhtemelen (tr), her halde
• Ukrainian: певно ‎(pévno), імовірно ‎(imovírno) / ймовірно ‎(jmovírno)
• Vietnamese: có lẽ (vi), có thể (vi)
• Volapük: luveratiko
• Walloon: dandjreus (wa), probåbe (wa), azår (wa)
• Yiddish: מסתּמא ‎(mistome)
• Yup'ik: -yugnarqe (verbal postbase)

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: blockquote · effect · wanted · #554: probably · especially · placed · desire