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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



... the words with the dramatic action and intensity they deserved. In the hum of talk around and across the table it was doubtful whether or not they were heard, and yet more than one of the guests glanced up with a look of interrogation. Dorothea caught her father's eyes in a gaze which he had some difficulty in returning with the proper amount of steadiness; but Mrs. Berrington ...
— The Inner Shrine • Basil King

... world is full of fact and fancy, so is this story. Whether it is based mostly on fact or on fancy we will leave to the German philosophers to decide, but I have heard that they are doubtful on this point, with regard to ...
— Fairy Tales from the German Forests • Margaret Arndt

... assert it to be my pecuniary interest to choose the most valuable of these, but I cannot say which is the most valuable. Does the proposition that it is my pecuniary interest to choose the most valuable, therefore, become doubtful? Must I not choose as well as I can, and if I choose wrongly, must I give up my ground of choice? Must I infer that in matters of business I may not act on the principle that, other things equal, the more profitable transaction is to be preferred, ...
— Problems of Conduct • Durant Drake

... business qualifications. I then said, "You are too much alike. You are, in a physiological sense, brother and sister. The offspring of such a marriage would be weak physically and mentally, if you had any, which is doubtful. You are both the embodiment of delicacy and refinement, artistic taste and sensitiveness, without one element of robust physique or business ability. You never made a ...
— How to Become Rich - A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and Matrimony • William Windsor

... heavens were doubtful, from early morning I would not cease to interrogate them, observing all the omens. If I saw the lady opposite, just inside her window, putting on her hat, I would say to myself: "That lady is going out; it must, therefore, be weather ...
— Swann's Way - (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) • Marcel Proust


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