improbablyadv.
/ɪmˈprɒbəbli/ In an improbable manner; without likelihood. Usually qualifying the statement as a whole, and denoting that it is not likely to be true; now chiefly in not improbably, an expression for ‘with more or less probability’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > improbability, unlikeliness > [adverb]
unlikelyc1449
incrediblyc1500
unlike1548
not unprobably1581
improbably1646
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. xiii. 229 That he lived and writ in these parts, is not improbably collected from the Epistles that passed betwixt him and Artaxerxes. View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. iii. 102 Dioneth an imaginary King of Britain, or Duke of Cornwall, who improbablie sided with them against his own Countrie.
a1691 R. Boyle Wks. (1772) I. 503 He speaks very improbably.
a1808 R. Hurd Prophecies App. (R.) A few years more may, not improbably, leave him without one admirer.
1899 N.E.D. at Improbably Mod. He is coming to Oxford soon, and may not improbably call on me.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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adv.1646