- Improbability (Substantives), unlikelihood, unfavourable chances, small chance, off-chance, etc., incredibility.
- Certainty (Substantives), certitude, positiveness, a dead certainty, infallibleness, infallibility, gospel, scripture, surety, assurance, indisputableness, moral certainty, see Truth 494.
- Uncertainty (Substantives), incertitude, see Doubt 485, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, suspense, precariousness, indefiniteness, indetermination, slipperiness, fallibility, perplexity, ambiguity, hesitation, equivoque, vagueness, peradventure, touch-and-go.
Probabilism, probabiliorism.
(Verb). To be probable, etc.
(Phrases). To bid fair; to stand fair for; to stand a good chance; to stand to reason.
(Adjectives). Probable, likely, hopeful, well-founded.
(Phrases). Likely to happen; in a fair way; appearances favouring; according to every reasonable expectation; the odds being in favour of.
Plausible, specious, ostensible, colourable, standing to reason, reasonable, credible, tenable, easy of belief, presumable, presumptive, ben trovato.
(Adverbs). Probably, etc., belike, in all probability, or likelihood, apparently, to all appearance, on the face of it, in the long run, prima facie, very likely, like enough, ten to one.
(Verbs). To be improbable, etc., to have or stand a small, little, poor, etc., chance; to whistle for.
(Adjectives). Improbable, incredible, unlikely.
(Phrases). Contrary to all reasonable expectation; having scarcely a chance, etc.
Fact, matter of fact, fait accompli.
(Verbs). To be certain, etc., to believe 484.
(Phrase). To stand to reason.
To render certain, etc., to ensure, to assure.
(Phrase). To make assurance doubly sure.
(Adjectives). Certain, sure, assured, solid, absolute, positive, flat, determinate, categorical, unequivocal, inevitable, unavoidable, avoidless, unerring, infallible, indubitable, indubious, indisputable, undisputed, uncontested, undeniable, incontestable, incontrovertible, undoubted, doubtless, without doubt, beyond a doubt, past dispute, unanswerable, decided, unquestionable, beyond all question, unquestioned, questionless, demonstrable 478, authoritative, official, trustworthy 939.
(Phrases). Sure as fate; à coup sûr; sure as a gun; clear as the sun at noonday; sure as death and taxes; cela va sans dire; that's flat; a dead certainty.
(Adverbs). Certainly, assuredly, etc., for certain, in esse, sure, surely, sure enough, of course, as a matter of course, yes (see 488), depend upon it, that's so, by all manner of means, beyond a peradventure.
(Phrases). A blind bargain; a moot point; an open question.
(Verbs). To be uncertain, etc.
(Phrases). To be in a state of uncertainty; to be at fault; to lose the scent.