dubious
/ˈdu.bi.əs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.49 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.
adj
Generally considered imprecise or wrong, but not totally unplayable.
Example Sentences
- "After he made some dubious claims about the company, fewer people trusted him."
- "They were renowned as people of dubious morals."
- "There are several reasons why the line's future is now dubious. With the exception of Horsmonden, the stations are most inconveniently sited. This is largely because the Wealden villages were built on ridges, and in fact most Wealden stations are badly placed."
- "Evasive, womanising, boastful, malicious, untrustworthy, an inveterate gambler who combined his mediocre military career with running a high-class brothel, permanently cash strapped and viciously quarrelsome, his character is as dubious as his unsavoury appearance."
- "Urban Dictionary records at least 66 of the terms found by the present research, but as this dictionary liberally accepts words, definitions, and sample sentences based solely on the say-so of contributors, in the absence of corroboration from other sources the authenticity of some entries must remain dubious."
- "She was dubious about my plan at first, but later I managed to persuade her to cooperate."
Etymology
From Latin dubius; like doubt, from Latin duo (cognate to English two), implying “two alternatives” (yes or no, true or false, etc.).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdu.bi.əs/
- British English: /ˈd͡ʒuː.bi.əs/
Inflected Forms
more dubious (comparative)
most dubious (superlative)