What does “likely” mean?
- 1
adjectiveprobably going to happen or be true
It’s likely to rain this afternoon.
- 2
adverbprobably
She will most likely be late.
Likely at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective & adverb
- CEFR level
- B1 (intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈlaɪkli/ · LYK-lee
How to use “likely” correctly
Use “be likely to” + verb: “He’s likely to win”, not “He’s likely winning”.
Common phrases with “likely”
- be likely to do sth
- it is likely that
- most likely
- highly likely
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Synonyms (similar meaning)
- probable
- probably
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
- unlikely
Word family
- unlikely
- likelihood
- like
“likely” is on these word lists
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