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Doubtful   /dˈaʊtfəl/   Listen
adjective
Doubtful  adj.  
1.
Not settled in opinion; undetermined; wavering; hesitating in belief; also used, metaphorically, of the body when its action is affected by such a state of mind; as, we are doubtful of a fact, or of the propriety of a measure. "Methinks I should know you, and know this man; Yet I am doubtful." "With doubtful feet and wavering resolution."
2.
Admitting of doubt; not obvious, clear, or certain; questionable; not decided; not easy to be defined, classed, or named; as, a doubtful case, hue, claim, title, species, and the like. "Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good." "Is it a great cruelty to expel from our abode the enemy of our peace, or even the doubtful friend (i. e., one as to whose sincerity there may be doubts)?"
3.
Characterized by ambiguity; dubious; as, a doubtful expression; a doubtful phrase.
4.
Of uncertain issue or event. "We... have sustained one day in doubtful fight." "The strife between the two principles had been long, fierce, and doubtful."
5.
Fearful; apprehensive; suspicious. (Obs.) "I am doubtful that you have been conjunct And bosomed with her."
Synonyms: Wavering; vacillating; hesitating; undetermined; distrustful; dubious; uncertain; equivocal; ambiguous; problematical; questionable.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Doubtful" Quotes from Famous Books



... was tenderly, and ancient scandal whispered improperly, attached, released him from confinement, and the brother-in-law paid the debt. "Thus severe and harsh," says Nepos, "was his entrance upon manhood." [141] But it is very doubtful whether Cimon was ever imprisoned for the state-debt incurred by his father—and his wealth appears to have been considerable even before he regained his patrimony in the Chersonese, or enriched himself ...
— Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... this warning before her eyes, and being doubtful of Clarissa's surgical abilities, concluded to postpone her researches, and proposed to her companion to fill the basket with shells and pebbles from the beach, to which cowardly proposition Clarissa yielded but a ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 23, September, 1859 • Various

... vexed with him to make any answer, and he was sorry. He, too, felt the trouble of the summer more than he would allow, and he would willingly have got away from it if he could. Lindora's impatience with it amused him, but it is doubtful if in the moment of his greatest amusement with her impatience he had any glimpse of that law of the universal life by which no human creature is permitted to escape a due share of the responsibilities and burdens of the common lot, or realized that to seek escape from them is a species of ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells

... than half an ounce a day to each individual; a quantity, which it is well known the youngest child will consume, and yet a large portion of the sugar entered for home consumption, is used in breweries, and distilleries, so that it is even doubtful, whether the personal direct consumption of tea or sugar be the greatest; notwithstanding the latter may be had in such great abundance and in every country within ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. XIX. No. 541, Saturday, April 7, 1832 • Various

... of Lamennais, at least agree in the witness which they bear to the bitter pangs and anxieties amid which, in their case, the eventful change came about. Even Cardinal Newman's Apologia, self-restrained and severely controlled as it is, shows no doubtful traces of the conflicts and sorrows out of which he believed himself to have emerged to a calmer and surer light. But M. Renan's story is an idyl, not a tragedy. It is sunny, placid, contented. He calls his life the "charmante ...
— Occasional Papers - Selected from The Guardian, The Times, and The Saturday Review, - 1846-1890 • R.W. Church


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