likely
Plurallikelies
- 1Probable; having a good chance of happening or being true, or reasonably expected ('the likely outcome'; 'likely to rain').
A second interview is likely if the panel agrees on her.
The most likely explanation is a simple wiring fault.
UsageOften likely to + verb (likely to rain) or it's likely that + clause; it compares as more likely or likelier.
Oppositeunlikely
- 2Probably; in all probability.
We'll likely see the final results tomorrow morning.
Traffic will likely build up once the game lets out.
UsageUsually between will and the verb (we'll likely see) or just before the verb; most likely can also open a sentence.
Similarprobably, presumably
Note
The adverb has a history of its own. It was formed separately, with the adverbial -ly, and its Old English form ġelīclīċe meant "equally."
- 3Suitable or promising; showing good potential for the purpose at hand.
The recruiter spotted several likely prospects at the job fair.
After an hour of searching, they finally found a likely place to set up camp, flat and close to the stream.
UsageUsually before a noun naming a person, place or subject: a likely candidate, a likely spot.
Similarpromising, suitable, appropriate
Oppositeunpromising, unsuitable
Note
This sense stays closest to the word's roots: its Old English ancestor meant "suitable" (see the "probable" sense). A likely candidate may be one who will probably be chosen or one who would do the job well, and only context decides which.
Less common meanings
- 4Plausible; believable enough to fall within the bounds of credibility.
“You were stuck in traffic for three hours? A likely story,” she said, rolling her eyes.
At first the manager's account of the missing money seemed likely enough, but the auditors soon found holes in it.
UsageA likely story! is ironic and means you do not believe it; sounds likely enough means believable.
Similarplausible, believable, credible, reasonable
Oppositeimplausible, unbelievable
Note
Credibility rather than chance: the question is whether a claim deserves belief. It often weighs one account against another. Kerry Brown's Guardian obituary of Kim Jong-il (2011) sets an official tale of a birth on Mount Baekdu against the "more likely" Soviet village.
- 5
- 6Attractive; pleasant in appearance.
Note
An archaic compliment, meaning pleasant to look at. A modern reader will usually take "a likely spot under a shady tree" to mean merely a suitable spot, which is the "promising" sense. So the old meaning tends to pass unnoticed in phrases like that. Used of a person, it reads as deliberately old-fashioned.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Likely has an archaic sense meaning attractive or pleasant to look at. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Similar; resembling another thing or person; alike.
For love is a celestiall harmonie Of likely harts composed of starres concent
1596, Edmund Spenser, An Hymne in Honour of BeautieNote
Here the word means exactly what its parts say: like plus the adjectival -ly, so resembling or matched. Edmund Spenser could still use it this way in 1596, picturing love as a harmony made of likely hearts, meaning hearts alike in kind. The use is obsolete. A reader meeting it in older verse should hear 'similar,' not 'probable.' In new writing, like or alike does this job.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Likely is equivalent in formation to like plus the adjectival suffix -ly. en.wiktionary.org
- Spenser's use appears in An Hymne in Honour of Beautie, published in Fowre Hymnes in 1596. en.wikipedia.org
- Spenser describes love as a harmony of likely hearts, with likely meaning similar. gutenberg.org
- The sense similar or alike is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- 8In the same or a similar manner.
Note
An obsolete adverb that stays closest to its Old English source, ġelīclīċe, "equally", the same word that lies behind the "probably" adverb. It has dropped out of use completely. A modern reader takes adverbial likely to mean probably, so any attempt to revive this use would be misread. Similarly says what it once said.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Likely had an obsolete adverbial sense meaning similarly. en.wiktionary.org
- This adverb derives from Old English ġelīclīċe, glossed as equally, which also underlies the probably sense. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
This adjective goes back to Middle English likely, which drew on two probably independent formations: Old English ġelīclīċ ("suitable") and Old Norse líkligr ("likely"). It amounts to like plus the adjectival suffix -ly.
Proto-Germanic *līkalīka gave both Old English ġelīclīċe ("equally") and Old Norse líkliga ("likely"), the sources of Middle English likely and so of this adverb. It amounts to like plus the adverbial suffix -ly.