like‧ly 1 S1 W1 / laɪkli / 形容词 ( comparative likelier , superlative likeliest )

1 something that is likely will probably happen or is probably true 反义词 unlikely :

Snow showers are likely tomorrow.

likely outcome/effects/consequences etc

What are the likely effects of the law going to be?

the most likely cause of the problem

likely to do/be something

Children who live in the country’s rural areas are very likely to be poor.

more/less/most/least likely

Young drivers are far more likely to have accidents than older drivers.

It is more than likely (= almost certain ) the votes will have to be counted again.

It could have been an accident, but that was hardly likely (= not very likely ) .

He could offer no likely explanation when I asked him.

2 [仅用于名词前] suitable for a particular purpose :

the three most likely candidates for president

One likely source of energy is wind power.

3 a likely story spoken used to tell someone you do not believe what they have just said

COLLOCATIONS

副词

very/highly/extremely likely It did not seem very likely that he was still alive.

more/most likely At this age, boys were more likely than girls to be active in sports.

quite likely British English (= very likely ) As parents, if we expect bad behaviour we are quite likely to get it.

less/least likely The smallest puppies are the least likely to survive.

hardly likely (= not very likely ) It seems hardly likely that she would tell her husband about it.

more than likely (= very likely ) She’ll be late, more than likely.

increasingly likely The project looked increasingly likely to fail.

动词

seem/appear/look likely Which candidate seems likely to win?

名词

a likely explanation What is the most likely explanation for the way she acted?

a likely result/outcome the most likely outcome of the election

a likely effect/consequence Consider the options open to you, and their likely consequences.

the likely impact (= the likely effect or influence of something ) What is the likely impact of the new factory on the local environment?

a likely cause/reason the likely cause of the accident