LIKELY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Likely

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/lˈaɪkli/ Listen

adjective

Likely adj. (compar. likelier; superl. likeliest)

Worthy of belief; probable; credible; as, a likely story. "It seems likely that he was in hope of being busy and conspicuous."

Having probability; having or giving reason to expect; followed by the infinitive; as, it is likely to rain.

Similar; like; alike. (Obs.)

Such as suits; good-looking; pleasing; agreeable; handsome.

Having such qualities as make success probable; well adapted to the place; promising; as, a likely young man; a likely servant.

Improbable; unlikely; used ironically; as, a likely story. (informal)

adverb

Likely adv. In all probability; probably. "While man was innocent he was likely ignorant of nothing that imported him to know."

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Etymology of 'Likely'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Likely" Quotes from Famous Books

... word convinces the utterer; but a man can act against his own bad judgment without warping it, and contrive to win in a bad cause without maintaining that it is a good one, like the barrister. Perhaps for this very reason an old attorney is the more likely of the two to make a ...

— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... prevailing character of the social relations of the age; a remark indeed predicable of most works of fiction, written by authors contemporary with the events they describe, and more especially so of that popular minstrelsy, which, emanating from a simple, uncorrupted class, is less likely to swerve from truth, than more ostentatious works of art. The long cohabitation of the Saracens with the Christians, (full evidence of which is afforded by Capmany, (Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iv. Apend. no. 11,) who quotes a document from ...

— History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella V1 • William H. Prescott

... Love feast at the Brick meetinghouse. Luke 14 was read. One brother spoke impressively on the last three words in the first verse: "THEY WATCHED HIM." Said he, "The enemies of the Lord most likely did this. They were ever eager to find some ground of accusation against him. But the Lord was not alone in this. 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' We, Brethren, are liable to be watched. And I think I may say truthfully ...

— Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary - Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk • John Kline

... Nilakantha as something that causes the patana or downfall of a person hence sin. [There is no reference for this note in the body of this page, so I have placed it in a likely location.—JBH] ...

— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... we're likely to get in to port before long, if we only have a breeze of wind," said Harvey Barth, the cook and steward of the brig Waldo, in a peculiar, drawling tone, by which any one who knew the speaker might have recognized him without the use ...

— The Coming Wave - The Hidden Treasure of High Rock • Oliver Optic

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