(likelier, likeliest)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use likely to indicate that something is probably the case or will probably happen in a particular situation.
Experts say a 'yes' vote is still the likely outcome...
If this is your first baby, it's far more likely that you'll get to the hospital too early...
Francis thought it likely John still loved her.
= probable
? unlikely
ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ that
•
Likely is also an adverb.
Profit will most likely have risen by about ?25 million...
Very likely he'd told them he had American business interests.
= probably
ADV: ADV with cl/group
2.
If someone or something is likely to do a particular thing, they will very probably do it.
In the meantime the war of nerves seems likely to continue...
Once people have seen that something actually works, they are much more likely to accept change.
? unlikely
ADJ: v-link ADJ to-inf
3.
A likely person, place, or thing is one that will probably be suitable for a particular purpose.
At one point he had seemed a likely candidate to become Prime Minister...
We aimed the microscope at a likely looking target.
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
You can say not likely as an emphatic way of saying 'no', especially when someone asks you whether you are going to do something. (INFORMAL)
'How about having a phone out here?'-'Not likely!'
= no way
CONVENTION [emphasis]