dubious

[doo-bee-uhs, dyoo-]

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adjective

doubtful; marked by or occasioning doubt: a dubious reply.
of doubtful quality or propriety; questionable: a dubious compliment; a dubious transaction.
of uncertain outcome: in dubious battle.

wavering or hesitating in opinion; inclined to doubt.

Origin of dubious

1540–50; < Latin dubius; see -ous

Related formsdu·bi·ous·ly, adverbdu·bi·ous·ness, nounsu·per·du·bi·ous, adjectivesu·per·du·bi·ous·ly, adverbsu·per·du·bi·ous·ness, nounun·du·bi·ous, adjectiveun·du·bi·ous·ly, adverbun·du·bi·ous·ness, noun

Synonyms for dubious

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1. equivocal, ambiguous, obscure, unclear. 4. undecided, uncertain, hesitant, fluctuating.

Synonym study

4. See doubtful.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for dubiousness

uncertainty, question, mistrust, indecision, doubtfulness, suspicion, dubiety, skepticism, questionability

Examples from the Web for dubiousness

Contemporary Examples of dubiousness

Another reason might have been the dubiousness with which the tactics of the so-called New Journalism were viewed.
Charles Portis, a Journalist With True Grit
Jay Jennings
September 25, 2012

Historical Examples of dubiousness

In a few words he told her of his despair and of the dubiousness of his position.
Cleo The Magnificent
Louis Zangwill
Diogenes eyed her with a dubiousness that soon became certainty.
The Proud Prince
Justin Huntly McCarthy
This time she was sure that no dubiousness lurked beneath his tone.
A Veldt Official
Bertram Mitford
Mr. Bennett contemplated him with just a tinge of dubiousness in his look.
Roy Blakeley in the Haunted Camp
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
It is unnecessary to point out the dubiousness of this theory!
South America
W. H. Koebel

British Dictionary definitions for dubiousness

dubious

adjective

marked by or causing doubta dubious reply
unsettled in mind; uncertain; doubtful
of doubtful quality; untrustworthya dubious reputation
not certain in outcome

Derived Formsdubiously, adverbdubiousness, noun

Word Origin for dubious

C16: from Latin dubius wavering

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dubiousness

dubious

adj.

1540s, from Latin dubiosus "doubtful," from dubium "doubt," neuter of dubius "vacillating, moving two ways, fluctuating;" figuratively "wavering in opinion, doubting, doubtful," from duo "two" (see two), with a sense of "of two minds, undecided between two things." Old English also used tweo "two" to mean "doubt." Cf. doubt (v.). Related: Dubiously; dubiousness.