probable

«probable» in Mova's school dictionary: Likely to happen or be true, but not certain — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (probable; more probable, most probable); noun (a probable — a likely choice, in sport)

meaning for a pupil

1) Likely to happen or be true, but not certain. tree →

2) (noun, informal) Someone likely to be chosen, e.g. for a team. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths probability lessons, words describe chances: impossible, unlikely, even chance, likely or probable, certain. In science and stories it shows a guess based on evidence: the probable cause. Phrases: highly probable, the probable cause, it is probable that.

examples

• Rain is probable later today. tree →
• The probable cause of the fire was a faulty heater. tree →
• It is probable that she missed the bus. tree →
• On a dice, rolling a number less than 6 is more probable than rolling a 6. tree →
• The doctor said a cold was the most probable answer. tree →
• He is a probable for the starting team. tree →
• It is probable that many more exist. tree →

note

Adverb: probably. Noun: probability. Probable is stronger than possible: possible means it can happen, probable means it will likely happen. In maths, an event is probable if its chance is more than one half.

Trees and pragmatics

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