improbable

«improbable» in Mova's school dictionary: Not likely to happen or to be true — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (improbable, more improbable); adverb «improbably»; noun «improbability»

meaning for a pupil

1) Not likely to happen or to be true. tree →

2) Strange and surprising: an improbable friendship between a cat and a duck. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, probability words go from impossible to certain; «improbable» means unlikely, close to the impossible end. In stories, an improbable event surprises the reader. Phrases: highly improbable, it is improbable that, an improbable winner.

examples

• It is improbable that it will snow in July in London. tree →
• Rolling a six ten times in a row is highly improbable. tree →
• The underdog team won an improbable victory. tree →
• The dog and the rabbit had an improbable friendship. tree →
• It's improbable but not impossible. tree →
• Getting every answer right by guessing is very improbable. tree →
• Nay, that is almost too improbable; and yet it is true. tree →

note

Opposite: «probable». In maths probability: improbable means a probability near 0 but not 0; impossible = 0, certain = 1. Similar: «unlikely».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «improbable» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.