Word Meanings - DOUBTFUL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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

Additional info about word: DOUBTFUL

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. Shak. With doubtful feet and wavering resolution. Milton. 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. Shak. Is it a great cruelty to expel from our abode the enemy of our peace, 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. Milton. The strife between the two principles had been long, fierce, and doubtful. Macaulay. 5. Fearful; apprehensive; suspicious. I am doubtful that you have been conjunct And bosomed with her. Shak. Syn. -- Wavering; vacillating; hesitating; undetermined; distrustful; dubious; uncertain; equivocal; ambiguous; problematical; questionable.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of DOUBTFUL)

• Ambiguous
• Equivocal
• vague
• doubtful
• enigmatical
• uncertain
• obscure
• unintelligible
• perplexing
• indistinct
• dubious
• Apocryphal
• Obscure
• unauthorized
• unauthentic
• spurious
• legendary
• unauthenticated
• unverified
• Debatable
• Dubious
• inestimable
• problematical
• floating
• unsettled
• disputable
• ambiguous
• double-sided
• Dark
• dim
• lowering
• unascertained
• humble
• mean

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of DOUBTFUL)

• Reveal
• make known
• discover

Related words: (words related to DOUBTFUL)

• DUBIOUSNESS
  State of being dubious.
• OBSCURENESS
  Obscurity. Bp. Hall.
• OBSCURER
  One who, or that which, obscures.
• DISPUTABLE
  1. Capable of being disputed; liable to be called in question, controverted, or contested; or doubtful certainty or propriety; controvertible; as, disputable opinions, propositions, points, or questions. Actions, every one of which is
• INDISTINCTION
  Want of distinction or distinguishableness; confusion; uncertainty; indiscrimination. The indistinction of many of the same name . . . hath made some doubt. Sir T. Browne. An indistinction of all persons, or equality of all orders, is far from being
• LOWERMOST
  Lowest.
• FLOATATION
  See FLOTATION
• DOUBTFULLY
  In a doubtful manner. Nor did the goddess doubtfully declare. Dryden.
• DISCOVERTURE
  A state of being released from coverture; freedom of a woman from the coverture of a husband. (more info) 1. Discovery.
• UNCERTAINTY
  1. The quality or state of being uncertain. 2. That which is uncertain; something unknown. Our shepherd's case is every man's case that quits a moral certainty for an uncertainty. L'Estrange.
• PERPLEX
  1. To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our
• VAGUELY
  In a vague manner. What he vaguely hinted at, but dared not speak. Hawthorne.
• LOWERY
  Cloudy; gloomy; lowering; as, a lowery sky; lowery weather.
• HUMBLE
  humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, 1. Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage. THy humble nest built on the ground. Cowley. 2. Thinking
• DISCOVERABLE
  Capable of being discovered, found out, or perceived; as, many minute animals are discoverable only by the help of the microscope; truths discoverable by human industry.
• DISCOVERY
  1. The action of discovering; exposure to view; laying open; showing; as, the discovery of a plot. 2. A making known; revelation; disclosure; as, a bankrupt is bound to make a full discovery of his assets. In the clear discoveries of the next
• DISCOVERER
  1. One who discovers; one who first comes to the knowledge of something; one who discovers an unknown country, or a new principle, truth, or fact. The discoverers and searchers of the land. Sir W. Raleigh. 2. A scout; an explorer. Shak.
• UNCERTAINLY
  In an uncertain manner.
• DUBIOUSLY
  In a dubious manner.
• INDISTINCTLY
  In an indistinct manner; not clearly; confusedly; dimly; as, certain ideas are indistinctly comprehended. In its sides it was bounded distinctly, but on its ends confusedly an indistinctly. Sir I. Newton.
• WILLOWER
  A willow. See Willow, n., 2.
• WINDFLOWER
  The anemone; -- so called because formerly supposed to open only when the wind was blowing. See Anemone.
• FLOWERY-KIRTLED
  Dressed with garlands of flowers. Milton.
• CAULIFLOWER
  An annual variety of Brassica oleracea, or cabbage of which the cluster of young flower stalks and buds is eaten as a vegetable. 2. The edible head or "curd" of a caulifower plant. (more info) caulis, and by E. flower; F. chou cabbage is fr. L.
• UNPERPLEX
  To free from perplexity. Donne.
• ENIGMATIC; ENIGMATICAL
  Relating to or resembling an enigma; not easily explained or accounted for; darkly expressed; obscure; puzzling; as, an enigmatical answer.
• INDISPUTABLE
  Not disputable; incontrovertible; too evident to admit of dispute. Syn. -- Incontestable; unquestionable; incontrovertible; undeniable; irrefragable; certain; positive; undoubted; sure; infallible. -- In*dis"pu*ta*ble*ness, n. -- In*dis"pu*ta*bly,
• FLOWER-DE-LUCE
  A genus of perennial herbs with swordlike leaves and large three-petaled flowers often of very gay colors, but probably white in the plant first chosen for the royal French emblem. Note: There are nearly one hundred species, natives of the north
• WALLOWER
  A lantern wheel; a trundle. (more info) 1. One who, or that which, wallows.
• FLOWERY
  1. Full of flowers; abounding with blossoms. 2. Highly embellished with figurative language; florid; as, a flowery style. Milton. The flowery kingdom, China.
• FLOWERLESSNESS
  State of being without flowers.
• MAYFLOWER
  In England, the hawthorn; in New England, the trailing arbutus ; also, the blossom of these plants.
• SUBOBSCURELY
  Somewhat obscurely or darkly. Donne.
• THUMBLESS
  Without a thumb. Darwin.
• UNFLOWER
  To strip of flowers. G. Fletcher.