noun
definition
Something or somebody considered unlikely.
adjective
definition
Not likely; improbable; not to be reasonably expected.
example
It's very unlikely that you'll be able to walk perfectly after being in a cast for six months.
definition
Not holding out a prospect of success; likely to fail; unpromising.
example
unlikely means
adverb
definition
In an improbable manner.
Examples of unlikely in a Sentence
It was an unlikely spot for water.
She doesn't understand how unlikely that is.
It seemed unlikely that he would travel so many miles to get her, and then give up.
It seems not unlikely therefore that Craig may have accompanied the king in his visit to Uranienburg.
Again, it is not unlikely that the Politics was arranged in the traditional order of books by Theophrastus, and that this is the meaning of the curious title occurring in the list of Aristotle's works as given by Diogenes Laertius, rroXcTCKns IcKpoavEC.os ws OeocApa6Tov a'13'y'8'E'srrt', which agrees with the Politics in having eight books.
Along the banks of the Thames are several small havens whose names have remained to us, such as Rotherhithe, Lambhith (Lambeth), Chelchith (Chelsea), &c., and it is not unlikely that the Saxons, who would not settle in the city itself, associated themselves with these small open spots.
But Chrysanthius declined on the strength of unfavourable omens, as he said, but probably because he realized that the scheme was unlikely to bear fruit.
It is not unlikely, therefore, that even a compound as stable in the solid form as potassium chloride should be thus dissociated when dissolved.
It is in the highest degree improbable that Lucilius served in the army at the age of fourteen; it is still more unlikely that he could have been admitted into the familiar intimacy of Scipio and Laelius at that age.
At the same time various details (as comparison with the Book of Kings shows) are relatively old and, on a priori grounds, it is extremely unlikely that the unhistorical elements are necessarily due to deliberate imagination or perversion rather than to the development of earlier traditions.
Though the chronicle is more legendary than historical, it is not unlikely that some good and even ancient sources were used by the first compiler, the Josippon known to us having passed through the hands of many interpolators.
It is not unlikely that they were in use during the Roman occupation of Britain, and consequently that they became known to the invaders almost from the first.
It is not unlikely that the houses of wealthy persons were distinguished by a good deal of ornamentation in carving and painting.
It is most unlikely that this process of improvement will not continue in the future.
It is most unlikely that wings have been acquired independently by various orders of Hexapoda, and if we regard the Thysanura as the slightly modified representatives of a primitively wingless stock, we must postulate the acquisition of wings by some early offshoot of that stock, an offshoot whence the whole group of the Pterygota took its rise.
Grote and others hold that six thousand had to be given against one person before he was ostracized, but it seems unlikely that the attendance at the Ecclesia ever admitted of so large a vote against one man, and the view is contradicted by Plut.
It seems not unlikely that Pelagianism had taken root among the Christian communities of Ireland, and it was found necessary to send a bishop to combat the heresy.
For since the ministers of the Temple at Jerusalem were the aristocracy of the land, and were often, as we know both from the book of Malachi and from the history of the Maccabees, the chief offenders, it is extremely unlikely that they collected for the official services.
So far, however, as the real foundation ceremonies of Craft Masonry are concerned, whether before or after the premier Grand Lodge was formed, it is most unlikely that such a society as the Freemasons would adopt anything of a really distinctive character from any other organization.
That similar traditional elements have influenced them is not unlikely; but to recover the true historical foundation is difficult.
In fact, allusions to the necessary studies of a gentleman meet us constantly, reminding us of the unlikely erudition of the schoolboy in Macaulay.
It is not unlikely that they were spent at Rome or in Italy in the fulfilment of some official duties.
But this is unlikely, notwithstanding the fact that even some pagan writers, such as Juvenal, Pliny and Martial (?), traced a resemblance between Domitian and Nero.
Speaking generally, we may say with confidence that water predominates in the unexplored north polar area, and that it is very unlikely that new land of any great extent exists there.
Although Ypres is unlikely to regain the importance it possessed when its "red-coated" contingent turned the day in the great battle of Courtrai (1302), it has an important linen and lace trade and a great butter market.
Beside the equivalence of the hon to 5 utens weight of water, the mathematical papyrus (35) gives 5 besha = (2/3)cubic cubit (Revillout's interpretation of this as 1 cubit cubed is impossible geometrically; see Rev. Eg., 1881, for data); this is very concordant, but it is very unlikely for 3 to be introduced in an Egyptian derivation, and probably therefore only a working equivalent.
But if we search Plotinus for evidence of any actual influence of Jewish and Christian philosophy, we search in vain; and the existence of any such influence is all the more unlikely because it is only the later Neoplatonism that offers striking and deep-rooted parallels to Philo and the Gnostics.
Legislative interference with agricultural operations or with the distribution of food-supplies, currency restrictions and failure of transport, which have all caused famines in the past, are unlikely thus to operate again; nor is it probable that the modern speculators who attempt to make "corners" in wheat could produce the evil effects contemplated in the old statutes against forestallers and regrators.
Many, if not all, of these persons were members of the royal family, and it is not unlikely that they originally bore the kingly title.
On the whole it seems not unlikely that at the beginning of the Christian era the Teutonic peoples of the continent were in a state of transition from cognatic to agnatic organization.
It is not unlikely that Roman settlers may have been attracted to the spot by the presence of the warm springs which still rise in the heart of the town, and spread fertility in the surrounding gardens.
It seemed unlikely that Señor Medena would invite Tessa.
It is not unlikely that, owing to the conditions under which it now lives, these traits are even more developed in England than elsewhere.
Such an unlikely spot for a home site, and yet, the remains of a chimney gave indisputable proof that one had existed at some point.
The cultivation and collection of the rubber being troublesome, it is unlikely to be attended to in those countries in which Hevea is successful.
His confidence was too strong to shake, and she suspected he knew just how damned good in bed he was and how unlikely any woman who'd had him would choose another man over him.
Further, it is pointed out by Korschelt and Heider that the hinder portion of the gut frequently acts in Arthropoda as an organ of nitrogenous excretion in the absence of any special excretory tubules, and that the production of such caeca from its surface in separate lines of descent does not involve any elaborate or unlikely process of growth.
Trotter's prides itself on never serving the same dish twice, so you are unlikely to find the exact same dinner as previous guests.
He said they weren't going to get his blessing, so it was highly unlikely.
It seemed an unlikely prospect, but on issues where the children were involved, she was generally correct.
It seemed unlikely that Alex would tell his father his intent.
If Dad was going to have her followed, it was unlikely that he would have sent someone she knew.
So long as the particles are all very small in comparison with the wave-length, there is complete polarization in the perpendicular direction; but when the size is such that obliquity sets in, the degree of obliquity will vary with the size of the particles, and the polarization will be complete only on the very unlikely condition that the size is the same for them all.
That he was a day-boy commoner at Winchester is possible, but seems unlikely.
But it is not unlikely that this story was invented to supersede the account of the incestuous union of Conchobar with his sister, which seems to be hinted at on various occasions.
But the truth was that the Boers thought they stood to gain by fighting, while the British, though not expecting war, and acting up till the last month or so on the assumption that serious military preparations were either unnecessary or sufficiently unlikely to be necessary to make them politically inexpedient, had with no less confidence committed themselves to a policy which was impracticable on peaceful terms.
Already events had shown that the feudatories, quite devoid of business experience, were not unlikely to dispose of these bonds and devote the proceeds to unsound enterprises.
It seems unlikely, therefore, that as a system the Synthetic Philosophy will prove long-lived; but this hardly detracts from its fruitfulness as a source of suggestion, or from the historic influence of many of its conceptions on the culture of the age.
In the preface to the last part of his Ethics (1893) Spencer regrets that "the Doctrine of Evolution has not furnished guidance to the extent he had hoped," but his contributions to ethics are not unlikely to be the most permanently valuable part of his philosophy.
The relationship with Aepyornis of Madagascar is still problematic. Whilst the moas seem to have been entirely herbivorous, feeding not unlikely upon the shoots of ferns, the kiwis have become highly specialized wormeaters.