Meanings
comparative more improbable · superlative most improbable
- Not likely to be true.
It's highly improbable that aliens abducted you.
3 more examples
Improbabile, that cannot be prooued, improbable.
1598, John Florio, “Improbabile”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, →OCLC, page 171, column 1Nay, if he be of a proud humour, […] he will not Bate an Ace of abſolute certainty, but however doubtful or improbable the thing is, coming f[r]om him it muſt go for an indiſputable truth.
1674, [Richard Allestree], “Of Positiveness”, in The Government of the Tongue. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Theater, →OCLC, page 197It is highly improbable that the drafter of the notice ever visualised the form that heavy vehicles of the future would take, but the comprehensive wording still covers modern types.
1955 December, “Notes and News: An Old Midland Railway Bridge Notice”, in Railway Magazine, page 877 - Not likely to happen.
Due to the loss of power, it is improbable that we will begin on time.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivenot likely to be true or to occur or to have occurred
adjectivehaving a probability too low to inspire belief
adjectivetoo improbable to admit of belief
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinimprobābilis
- Englishimprobable
Borrowed from Latin improbābilis. By surface analysis, im- + probable.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian неправдоподо́бен, невероя́тен
- неправдоподо́бен (nepravdopodóben)not likely to be true
- невероя́тен (neverojáten)not likely to happen
Catalan improbable
- improbablenot likely to be true
Czech nepravděpodobný
- nepravděpodobnýnot likely to be true
Danish usandsynlig
- usandsynlignot likely to happen
Dutch onwaarschijnlijk, onwaarschijnlijk
- onwaarschijnlijknot likely to be true
- onwaarschijnlijknot likely to happen
Finnish epätodennäköinen, epätodennäköinen
- epätodennäköinennot likely to be true
- epätodennäköinennot likely to happen
French invraisemblable, improbable
- invraisemblablenot likely to be true
- improbablenot likely to happen
German unwahrscheinlich, unwahrscheinlich
- unwahrscheinlichnot likely to be true
- unwahrscheinlichnot likely to happen
Greek απίθανος, απίθανος
- απίθανος (apíthanos)not likely to be true
- απίθανος (apíthanos)not likely to happen
Hungarian valószínűtlen, valószínűtlen
- valószínűtlennot likely to be true
- valószínűtlennot likely to happen
Japanese 疑わしい, 低確率の
- 疑わしい (utagawashii)not likely to be true
- 低確率の (teikakuritsu no)not likely to be true
- 疑わしい (utagawashii)not likely to happen
- 低確率の (teikakuritsu no)not likely to happen
Polish nieprawdopododny
- nieprawdopododnynot likely to be true
Portuguese improvável, improvável
- improvávelnot likely to be true
- improvávelnot likely to happen
Romanian improbabil
- improbabilnot likely to be true
Russian неправдоподо́бный, невероя́тный
- неправдоподо́бный (nepravdopodóbnyj)not likely to be true
- невероя́тный (neverojátnyj)not likely to happen
Slovak nepravdepodobný
- nepravdepodobnýnot likely to be true
Spanish improbable, inverosímil
- improbablenot likely to be true
- inverosímilnot likely to be true
- improbablenot likely to happen
Swedish osannolik, osannolik
- osannoliknot likely to be true
- osannoliknot likely to happen
- föga troligtnot likely to happen
Ukrainian неправдоподі́бний, неймові́рний
- неправдоподі́бний (nepravdopodíbnyj)not likely to be true
- неймові́рний (nejmovírnyj)not likely to happen
Cite this entry
improbable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/improbable
“improbable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/improbable. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “improbable,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/improbable.
Source: improbable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.