likely.
Probable; having a greater-than-even chance of occurring.
Meaning & usage
Probable; having a greater-than-even chance of occurring.
Rain is likely later this afternoon.
Reasonably to be expected; apparently destined, probable.
Do you think there's likely to be snow?
He is likely to succeed at anything he tries.
Appropriate, suitable; believable; promising, having a good potential.
Jones is a likely candidate for management.
The relationship with social status is a likely topic for investigation.
Plausible; within the realm of credibility.
not a very likely excuse.
Leading with high probability to some specified outcome.
a likely recipe for disaster.
Attractive; pleasant.
I found a likely spot under a shady tree for the picnic.
Similar; like; alike.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English likely, likly, lykly, likliche, from Old English ġelīclīċ (“suitable”) and Old Norse líkligr (“likely”) (probably independent formations), equivalent to like + -ly (adjectival suffix).
Something or somebody considered likely.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English likely, likly, lykly, likliche, from Old English ġelīclīċ (“suitable”) and Old Norse líkligr (“likely”) (probably independent formations), equivalent to like + -ly (adjectival suffix).
Probably.
Likely he’ll win the election in this economy.
He’ll likely win the election in this economy.
Similarly.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English likely, likly, lykly, likliche, from Old English ġelīclīċe (“equally”) and Old Norse líkliga, glíkliga (“likely”), both from Proto-Germanic *līkalīka, equivalent to like + -ly (adverbial suffix).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.