dubious

adjective du·bi·ous \ ˈdü-bē-əs also dyü- \

|Updated on: 16 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: dubious in a Sentence

Editor's Note: There's No Uncertainty Around The Definition of dubious

Definition of dubious

1 : unsettled in opinion : doubtful

I was dubious about the plan.

2 : giving rise to uncertainty: such as

a : of doubtful promise or outcome

a dubious plan

b : questionable or suspect as to true nature or quality

the practice is of dubious legality

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dubiously

adverb

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dubiousness

noun

See dubious defined for English-language learners

See dubious defined for kids

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Examples of dubious in a Sentence

The recent rumbles and ruptures in the financial markets are finally making people reassess the dubious systems of credit that have arisen in the past few years. —William Safire, New York Times Magazine, 19 Aug. 2007
Thus, the translation of the Latin word biographus as "a biography," and the limitation of "biographies" to written, printed histories of men, was perhaps inevitable. Poor Dryden was given the dubious honor of being the first to use the generic term—despite the fact that his phrase had been taken out of the context of biographical compilers, in a discussion of Plutarch. —Nigel Hamilton, Biography, 2007
That indeed is the crux of the matter. Today especially, when community-oriented policing is being introduced everywhere, it seems not only ethically dubious but self-defeating to engage in practices that at their best undermine trust and cooperation between citizens and law-enforcement officials and at their worst foster cynicism toward our legal system. —Edwin Dobb, Harper's, May 2002
To avoid fees, the new "relationship" minimum for checking accounts jumped from $2000 to as much as $6000. And what would customers get in exchange? The ability to take advantage of such a dubious new benefit as a consolidated monthly statement. —Consumer Reports, March 1996
He made the highly dubious claim that Elvis is still alive and living in Hawaii.
a man of dubious character

Recent Examples of dubious from the Web

Given that starting pitchers are babied beyond belief, shouldn’t baseball change its dubious Quality Start stat?

— paul daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty's Morning Line: Cincinnati Reds need the off day, and other MLB thoughts," 12 July 2018
Being a sports fan, whether die-hard or fair-weather, is these days rather a dubious undertaking.

— joseph epstein, WSJ, "Don’t Take Me Out to the Ballgame—I Can’t Afford It," 12 July 2018
For many decades, scientists were dubious about this passage since whales do not, in the modern era, use the area as a calving ground.

— jeet heer, The New Republic, "Scientists admit Pliny the Elder was right about orcas and whales.," 11 July 2018
Pruitt rented a room from a D.C. lobbyist with a dubious discount.

— lisa ryan, The Cut, "A Running List of Scott Pruitt’s Biggest Scams," 3 July 2018
Mickelson also has finished second at U.S. Opens six times, a dubious record in itself.

— marcus hayes, Philly.com, "Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson chase history at U.S. Open | Marcus Hayes," 13 June 2018
John Scardino, 58, a high school teacher from the United States who has lived in Britian for 18 years and will be at Friday’s protests in London, is dubious that the embassy alert would have any effect on crowd size.

— karla adam, Washington Post, "Keep your heads down, U.S. embassy warns Americans ahead of London Trump visit," 11 July 2018
Now all that was left was a dubious glide ratio and the promise of an open field.

— caroline paul, Outside Online, "Caroline Paul on Her First Emergency Landing," 11 July 2018
Those activities earned him a dubious spot on a list recently compiled for the county's Department of Human Assistance.

— cynthia hubert, sacbee, "This man cost Sacramento County more in one year than any other homeless person," 8 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dubious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

There's No Uncertainty Around The Definition of dubious

Dubious derives from the Latin verb dubare, meaning "to hesitate in choice of opinions or courses," and it is related to the Latin word for "two": duo. Dubious can be used to indicate uncertainty about the result of an action or the truth of a statement as well as about the uncertainty of a person and his or her character. In either case, it usually implies a feeling of doubt from suspicion, mistrust, or hesitation.

Origin and Etymology of dubious

Latin dubius, from dubare to vacillate; akin to Latin duo two — more at two

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1548

in the meaning defined at sense 2

See Words from the same year

dubious Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of dubious

doubtful, dubious, problematic, questionable mean not affording assurance of the worth, soundness, or certainty of something. doubtful implies little more than a lack of conviction or certainty.

- doubtful about whether I said the right thing

dubious stresses suspicion, mistrust, or hesitation.

- dubious about the practicality of the scheme

problematic applies especially to things whose existence, meaning, fulfillment, or realization is highly uncertain.

- whether the project will ever be finished is problematic

questionable may imply no more than the existence of doubt but usually suggests that the suspicions are well-grounded.

- a man of questionable honesty

DUBIOUS Defined for English Language Learners

dubious

adjective

Definition of dubious for English Language Learners

: unsure or uncertain : feeling doubt about something
: causing doubt, uncertainty, or suspicion : likely to be bad or wrong
—used ironically in phrases like dubious honor and dubious distinction to describe something bad or undesirable as if it were an honor or achievement