perhaps

[ per-haps ]

adverb

1. maybe; possibly:

   Perhaps the package will arrive today.

perhaps

/ præps; pəˈhæps /

adverb

1. 1. possibly; maybe
   2. ( as sentence modifier )

      he'll arrive tomorrow, perhaps

      perhaps you'll see him tomorrow

sentence substitute

1. it may happen, be so, etc; maybe

Word History and Origins

Origin of perhaps¹

First recorded in 1520–30; earlier perhappes, perhapis “by haps”; equivalent to per + hap ¹ + -s ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of perhaps¹

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

Example Sentences

Citizens, perhaps, need to feel like they can communicate something to science.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps on his own nowadays, Epstein is trying his best to webmaster over a dozen URLs.

From The Daily Beast

Democrats would be mistaken to underestimate Mike Huckabee, perhaps the strongest Republican presidential contender.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps, as Dwight Garner wrote, Steinberg just needed an idea for a book.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps it always seems that way at the time, but surely we face our fair share right now.

From The Daily Beast

“Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.

From Project Gutenberg

There is, perhaps, in this childish suffering often something more than the sense of being homeless and outcast.

From Project Gutenberg

Those in whom the impulse is strong and dominant are perhaps those who in later years make the good society actors.

From Project Gutenberg

The sensation she had communicated to him then she communicated again, this time perhaps more strongly.

From Project Gutenberg

When he gets quite large the boy will get tired of having him for a pet, and perhaps bring him back.

From Project Gutenberg