perhaps

[ per-haps ]

See synonyms for perhaps on Thesaurus.com

adverb

maybe; possibly: Perhaps the package will arrive today.

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Origin of perhaps

First recorded in 1520–30; earlier perhappes, perhapis “by haps”; equivalent to per + hap¹ + -s¹

Words Nearby perhaps

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use perhaps in a sentence

Citizens, perhaps, need to feel like they can communicate something to science.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers | Michael Schulson | July 27, 2016 | THE DAILY BEAST
perhaps on his own nowadays, Epstein is trying his best to webmaster over a dozen URLs.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking | M.L. Nestel | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
Democrats would be mistaken to underestimate Mike Huckabee, perhaps the strongest Republican presidential contender.
Why This Liberal Hearts Huckabee | Sally Kohn | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
perhaps, as Dwight Garner wrote, Steinberg just needed an idea for a book.
Was ‘The Book of Mormon’ a Great American Novel? | Stefan Beck | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
perhaps it always seems that way at the time, but surely we face our fair share right now.
In 2015, Let’s Try for More Compassion | Gene Robinson | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST

“perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
There is, perhaps, in this childish suffering often something more than the sense of being homeless and outcast.
Children's Ways | James Sully
Those in whom the impulse is strong and dominant are perhaps those who in later years make the good society actors.
Children's Ways | James Sully
The sensation she had communicated to him then she communicated again, this time perhaps more strongly.
Bella Donna | Robert Hichens
When he gets quite large the boy will get tired of having him for a pet, and perhaps bring him back.
Squinty the Comical Pig | Richard Barnum

British Dictionary definitions for perhaps

perhaps

/ (pəˈhæps, informal præps) /

adverb

- possibly; maybe
- (as sentence modifier): he'll arrive tomorrow, perhaps; perhaps you'll see him tomorrow

sentence substitute

it may happen, be so, etc; maybe

Origin of perhaps

C16 perhappes, from per by + happes chance, hap 1

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

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