Dubious

Definition: Dubious

Dubious

Adjective

1. Fraught with uncertainty or doubt; "they were doubtful that the cord would hold"; "it was doubtful whether she would be admitted"; "dubious about agreeing to go".

2. Open to doubt or suspicion; "the candidate's doubtful past"; "he has a dubious record indeed"; "what one found uncertain the other found dubious or downright false"; "it was more than dubitable whether the friend was as influential as she thought"- Karen Horney.

3. Not convinced; "they admitted the force of my argument but remained dubious".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "dubious" was first used: 1548. (references)

Etymology: Dubious \Du"bi*ous\, adjective. [Latin expression dubius, dubiosus, from duo two. See Two, and compare to Doubt.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Dubious

Error

Phrase: errare est humanum; mentis gratissimus error; "on the dubious waves of error tost"; "to err is human, to forgive divine"; "you lie

Uncertainty

Doubtful, dubious; indecisive; unsettled, undecided, undetermined; in suspense, open to discussion; controvertible; in question; (inquiry).

Crosswords: Dubious

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious; however, I will provide you with a new body, and new troops to command. (The Transformers: The Movie; writing credit: Ron Friedman)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• A Dubious Legacy (reference)

• Dubious Conceptions: The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy (reference)

• In Dubious Battle (20th Century Classics) (reference)

• John Steinbeck : Novels and Stories, 1932-1937 : The Pastures of Heaven / To a God Unknown / Tortilla Flat / In Dubious Battle / Of Mice and Men (Library of America) (reference)

• Play Ball: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements in Baseball History (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Help Save the Youth of America E.P.: Live & Dubious [LIVE] [EP] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Dubious Achievement Award : easy rider. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

His manners, however, must have been unmarked, wavering, dubious, or she could not have been so misled.

So that controversies, wranglings, disputes, and positiveness in false or dubious propositions, are evils unknown among the Houyhnhnms.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Business

Behind the losses were the clearing of provisions, reserves for exchange rate losses, deprecation of dubious property and irrecoverable claims. (references)

Economic History

Cote d'Ivoire

Robert Guei claimed a dubious victory in the 2000 presidential elections. (references)

Paraguay

Though a 1967 constitution gave dubious legitimacy to Stroessner's control, Paraguay became progressively isolated from the world community. (references)

Benin

During the 2001 elections, however, alleged irregularities and dubious practices led to a boycott of the run-off poll by the main opposition candidates. (references)

Political Rights

Albania

The OSCE's ODIHR, which observed the elections, noted that there was progress in the areas of election administration, media coverage, and campaign conduct; however, ODIHR's final report noted that the election process was "protracted, uncertain, and fragmented." It also noted some serious irregularities in the voting process, including ballot box stuffing; fraud in a limited number of constituencies; political pressure exercised at times that compromised the performance of the Central Elections Commission (CEC); inadequate handling of key elections complaints by the CEC; police interference in a limited number of instances; and a dubious appeals process, particularly with regard to the Constitutional Court. (references)

Trade

Costa Rica

Banco Anglo Costarricense, at one time the third largest and oldest state commercial bank, was closed by the Central Bank's examiners office in 1995 after incurring US$ 200 million in losses due to bad loans and dubious investments in Venezuelan bonds that subsequently disappeared. (references)

Women

Pakistan

Human Rights Watch also reported that women face problems in the collection of evidence; that the doctors tasked to examine rape victims often believe that the victims are lying; that they are trained insufficiently and have inadequate facilities for the collection of forensic evidence pertaining to rape; that they do not testify very effectively in court; and that they tend to focus on the virginity status of the victim, and, due either to an inadequate understanding of the need for prompt medical evaluations or to inadequate resources, often delay the medical examinations for many days or even weeks, making any evidence that they collect of dubious utility. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression using "dubious": be dubious about. Additional references.

Beginning with "dubious": dubious-looking.

Ending with "dubious": politically-dubious.

Albanian

dyshues (distrustful, doubtful, doubting, incredulous, leery, mistrustful, queer, shady, suspicious, wary), jo i ndershëm, i pavendosur (hesitant, indecisive, irresolute, purposeless, sticky, suspensive, undecided, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, unsteady), i pasigurt (chancy, crazy, Dickey, dicky, disputable, doubtful, faithless, fly-by-night, incalculable, insecure, precarious, questionable, touch and go, tricksy, trustless, truthless, unassured, uncertain, unclear, unreliable, unsafe, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy), i paqartë (abstract, dark, dim, doubtful, dusky, evasive, inarticulate, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, muddy, nebulous, obscure, out of focus, recondite, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undistinguishable, undistinguished, unknowable, unreadable, vague), i keq (bad, bad tempered, baleful, blinking, bodeful, cancerous, catty, cheesy, crook, dark, defective, evil, heavy, ill, ill disposed, ill natured, ill-conditioned, lousy, low-grade, malign, malignant, nasty, naughty, perverse, poor, punk, shady, shoddy, sinister, ugly, vicious, vile, wicked), i dyshimtë (dingy, dodgy, doubtful, equivocal, fishy, left handed, misgiving, moot, precarious, problematic, queer, suspect, suspicious, unassured, uncertain, unreliable, wildcat). (various references)

Arabic 

‏ملتبس (ambiguous, doubtful, equivocal, obscure, uncertain, vague), ‏متردد (ambivalent, chary, double-minded, doubtful, faint-hearted, faltering, flickering, haunting, hesitant, hesitating, indecisive, infirm, irresolute, remittent, stammerer, tentative, timid, uncertain, undecided, unsettled, vacillating, wavering), ‏مريب (doubtful, dubitable, equivocal, fishy, jack, problematic, queer, questionable, suspicious), ‏مشكوك فيه (doubtful, dubitable, equivocal, fishy, questionable, suspicious), ‏مشبوه (doubtful, dubitable, equivocal, fishy, suspect, suspected, suspicious, under suspicion), ‏شاك (doubtful, unbelieving). (various references)

Bulgarian 

съмнителен (alleged, ambiguous, amphibious, dingy, disputable, doubtful, equivocal, fishy, fly-by-night, hedge, hole-and-corner, indeterminate, moot, off beat, phoney, precarious, problematic, queer, questionable, screwy, seedy, shady, shaky, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unsure, vague), колеблив (backward, doubtful, faltering, fitful, halting, hesitant, hesitating, infirm, irresolute, labile, pendulous, queasy, rickety, rocky, tardy, tentative, vacillating, versatile, wavering, wobbly, yo-yo), несигурен (build on sand, chancy, dangerous, disputable, equivocal, faltering, halting, insecure, irresolute, long, pendulous, precarious, problematic, queasy, risky, rocky, shaky, slippy, suspensive, tentative, top heavy, tottery, treacherous, uncertain, uneasy, unreliable, unresolved, unsafe, unsettled, unsound, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy, variable, versatile, wonky). (various references)

Chinese 

半信半疑 (Doubtful), 不三不四 (neither fish nor fowl, neither one thing nor the other, nondescript, shady), 可疑 (suspicious). (various references)

Czech

problematický (difficult, objectionable, problematic, problematical, questionable), pochybný (devious, disreputable, dodgy, doubtful, equivocal, murky, problematical, questionable, seamy, seedy, shady, specious, suspect, unsavory), nevìrohodný (implausible), nejistý (afloat, chancy, cloudy, doubtful, faltering, fluid, halting, insecure, jumpy, precarious, shaky, suspensive, tenuous, uncertain, undecided, uneasy, uneven, unsafe, unsettled, unsound, unsure). (various references)

Dutch

verdacht huis (dubious house, suspect house). (various references)

Farsi 

موردشک(dubitable=), مشکوک (Doubtful, Esoteric, Precarious, Questionable, Shady, Skeptic, Suspicious, Uncertain). (various references)

Finnish

epätietoinen (doubtful, uncertain), epäiltävä (doubtful, suspicious). (various references)

French

douteux, véreux, suspect, incertain, hasardeux, hésitant, équivoque. (various references)

German

zweifelhaft (backhanded, doubtable, doubtful, dubiously, funny, hypothetic, iffy, left handed, questionable, seedy, shady, uncertain, unsavory, unsavoury). (various references)

Greek 

αμφίβολοσ (doubtful, iffy). (various references)

Hebrew 

מפוקפק (apocryphal, doubtful, equivocal, moot, questionable, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unfounded), מפקפק (irresolute). (various references)

Hungarian

kétes (dicey, dingy, doubtful, equivocal, fishy, louche, obscure, precarious, queer, questionable, shady, unassured). (various references)

Indonesian

ragu-ragu (doubt, hesitate, irresolute, undecided). (various references)

Italian

dubbioso (doubt, doubtful, doubtfully), dubbio (ambiguous, borderline, discredit, doubt, doubtful, doubts, incertitude, misgiving, quandary, queer, query, question, questionable, reflection, reflexion, uncertain, unsure), incerto (aleatory, borderline, dim, doubtful, in question, irresolute, open, questionable, shadowy, tentative, touch and go, uncertain, unclear, undecided, unsettled, unsure, vague), equivoco (ambiguity, ambiguous, equivocal, equivocalness, equivocation, fishy, misapprehension, misunderstanding, shady, shifty, underhand). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

半信半疑 (half in doubt, incredulous), 怪しい (doubtful, suspicious), 妖しい (doubtful, suspicious), 如何わしい (indecent, suspicious, unreliable, unseemly). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

いかがわしい (indecent, suspicious, unreliable, unseemly), あやしい (doubtful, suspicious), は�"し�"は�"ぎ (half in doubt, incredulous). (various references)

Korean 

반� 반의하�". (various references)

Manx

ouryssagh (agnostic, disputable, distrustful, doubtful, doubting, mistrusting, moot, questionable, sceptic, sceptical, shady, suspecting, suspicious). (various references)

Norwegian

tvilsom (questionable), tvilende (incredulous). (various references)

Pig Latin

ubiousday

Portuguese

duvidoso (controversial, disputable, doubtful, doubting, fishy, questionable, shaky, suspicious, unassured, uncertain, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy), dúbio (doubting), incerto (borderline, chancy, double-minded, doubtful, doubting, fitful, floating, hazardous, incalculable, inconstant, insecure, kittle, lubricous, precarious, problematic, questionable, risky, shaky, shifting, slippery, slippy, tottery, touch and go, touch-and-go, unassured, uncertain, undecided, unreliable, unsettled, unstable, unsure), hesitante (deliberate, diffident, double-minded, doubting, faltering, fumbling, half-hearted, halting, hesitant, indecisive, irresolute, limp, perplexed, reluctant, undecided, unresolved, vacillating, wavering, wobbly). (various references)

Romanian

dubios (doubtful, equivocal, fishy, questionable, shady, suspicious, uncertain), suspect (doubtful, doubtful person, equivocal, fishy, queer, questionable, shady, suspect, suspicious, suspiciously), nesigur (chancy, conjectural, doubtful, erratic, fitful, hesitating, in doubt, inconstant, indecisive, insecure, irresolutely, rocky, ticklish, uncertain, unsafe), necurat (accursed, cursed, dark, devilish, dishonest, dishonorable, dishonourable, funny, shady, suspicious, unclean), şovãitor (at pause, doubtful, faltering, flexuous, halting, hesitant, hesitating, hesitatingly, irresolute, reluctant, shilly shally, tremulous, uncertain, undecided, wavering, waveringly). (various references)

Russian 

сомнительный (backhanded, disputable, doubtful, equivocal, fishy, indeterminate, queer, questionable, suspicious, uncertain). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

dubiozan. (various references)

Spanish

dudoso (chancy, doubtful, doubtfully, indecisive, indefinite, problematic, problematical, questionable, touch and go, uncertain, unsuspected), sospechoso (fishy, leery, shady, shifty, suspect, suspicious, under a cloud). (various references)

Swedish

tvivelaktig (doubtful, dubitable, equivocal, exceptionable, fishy, iffy, moot, problematic, questionable, shady). (various references)

Thai

สงสัย (doubt, doubtful, suspect). (various references)

Turkish

kararsız (ambivalent, astatic, baffling, changeable, changeful, double-minded, doubtful, erratic, faltering, fickle, flighty, fluctuating, flukey, fluky, fluxional, halting, hazy, hesitant, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, infirm of purpose, irresolute, precarious, restless, shilly shally, uncertain, uncommitted, undecided, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, vagabond, vague, wayward, weak-kneed), belirsiz (ambiguous, backhanded, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dusty, equivocal, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, in the balance, indefinable, indefinite, indescribable, indeterminate, indistinct, inglorious, lax, misty, obscure, off color, off colour, precarious, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undetermined, unsettled, vague), şüpheli (chancy, contestable, creaky, debatable, discredited, disputable, dodgy, doubtful, dubitative, equivocal, fishy, funny, funny peculiar, hazardous, indecisive, indefinable, murky, nebulous, precarious, problematic, problematical, sceptical, screwy, shadowy, shady, shaky, skeptical, speculative, suspect, suspenseful, suspicious, umbrageous, uncertain, unconvincing), şüpheci (distrustful, from missouri, mistrustful, sceptic, sceptical, skeptic, skeptical, suspicious, unbelieving). (various references)

Turkmen 

юьbheli (doubtful). (various references)

Ukrainian

сумнівний (apocryphal, doubtful, equivocal, indeterminate, naughty, off color, off colour, precarious, problematic, problematical, queer, risky, shady, uncertain), нерозв'язаний (pendent, unresolved, unsolved), підозрілий (doubtful, leery, mistrustful, questionable, rum, rummy, screwy, suspect, suspicious, wary). (various references)

Vietnamese 

ngờ vực; do dự, minh bạch (direct, distinctly, lucid, self-apparent), mơ h�" (dark, darkly, foggy, indefinable, intangible, problematic, problematical, undefined, vague), lưỡng lự (double-minded, doubtful, dubitative, haltingly, hesitant, hesitatingly, hesitative, indecisive, seesaw, shilly-shally, undecided, unsteady), lờ mờ (adumbration, dim, dreamy, dusty, indeterminate, indistinct, vague), không rõ r� ng đáng ngờ, không đáng tin cậy; không chắc chắn, còn h�" nghi nghi ngờ. (various references)

Welsh

amheus (ambiguous, doubtful, doubting, suspicious). (various references)

dubiae, dubio, dubiosus, dubium. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "dubious": dubiously, dubiousness, dubiousnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Dubious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dabdoub, Debieux, dubios, dubiouse, dubium, dubiuos, dubius, dublious, duboisi, duboius, dubous, duibous, Dulbecos, dupions, Durieux, dutious, duvious, euboians, nubicus, rubidus. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-3 letters: bids, bios, bods, buds, dibs, dubs, duos, obis, ouds, udos.

-4 letters: bid, bio, bis, bod, bos, bud, bus, dib, dis, dos, dub, dui, duo, ids, obi, ods, oud, sib, sob, sod, sou, sub, udo.

-5 letters: bi, bo, do, id, is, od, os, si, so, us.

+2 letters: dubiously, outbuilds.

+3 letters: subduction.

+4 letters: dubiousness, subaudition, subductions.

+5 letters: hebetudinous, outbuildings, subauditions.