doubtfuladjective
uk/ˈdaʊt.fəl/us/ˈdaʊt.fəl/B2 If you are doubtful about something, you are uncertain about it:
The teacher is doubtful about having parents working as classroom assistants.
B2 If a situation is doubtful, it is unlikely to happen or to be successful:
It is doubtful whether/if they ever reached the summit before they died.
It was doubtful that the money would ever be found again.
More examples
- It is doubtful whether the government will ever agree to their demands.
- We were doubtful about the product's usefulness from the start.
- It now looks doubtful that the building work will be completed on time.
- I'm a bit doubtful about whether to take on the job, as the hours are pretty unsociable.
- Many of us are doubtful about the value of these new educational strategies.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Doubt & ambivalence
- ambivalent
- askance
- be in two minds idiom
- blow hot and cold idiom
- chary
- hem and haw idiom
- hum
- hum and haw idiom
- indecision
- indecisive
- insecure
- jury
- shilly-shally
- sit on the fence idiom
- straddle
- tentative
- the jury is (still) out idiom
- unclear
- wobble
- wobbly
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Uncertainty
doubtfully
adverb uk/ˈdaʊt.fəl.i/us/ˈdaʊt.fəl.i/
"Are you telling me the truth?" he asked doubtfully.