wahrscheinlich

Definition & meaning

wahrscheinlich means probably, likely, or probable.

It expresses that something is considered more likely to be true than false, but is not certain.

• As an adverb: probably, most likely
  Er kommt wahrscheinlich später. — “He will probably come later.”
• As an adjective: probable, likely
  Das ist eine wahrscheinliche Erklärung. — “That is a probable explanation.”

Depending on context, it can also mean plausible or credible, especially when describing an explanation or assumption.

Grammar & word origin

wahrscheinlich is both:

• an adjective: eine wahrscheinliche Ursache — “a probable cause”
• an adverb: Sie ist wahrscheinlich krank. — “She is probably ill”

As an adjective, it takes normal German adjective endings: wahrscheinlicher, wahrscheinliche, wahrscheinliches, and so on.

The word is made up of:

• ↗ — “true”
• ↗ — “appearance” or “semblance”
• the suffix ↗ — roughly “-ly” or “-like”

Its literal underlying idea is “appearing true” or “having the appearance of truth.”

The related noun is ↗, meaning “probability” or “likelihood.”

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

• ↗ — “probably,” often used almost interchangeably with wahrscheinlich
• ↗ — “probably” or “presumably”; usually shorter and somewhat more conversational
• ↗ — “presumed” or “alleged”; more formal and often used when something has not been proven
• ↗ — “plausible”; emphasizes that something seems reasonable or logically convincing, rather than merely statistically likely

Antonyms

• ↗ — “unlikely” or “improbable”; the direct opposite
• ↗ — “certain” or “sure”; expresses certainty rather than probability
• ↗ — “ruled out” or “impossible”; stronger than simply being the opposite of wahrscheinlich

Common phrases & collocations

• ↗ — “most probably,” “in all likelihood”
• ↗ — “in all probability”
• ↗ — “to be probable” or “to be likely”
• ↗ — “probable cause”
• ↗ — “likely reason”
• ↗ — “with a high probability” or “very likely”