Possibly vs Certain - What's the difference?
possibly | certain |
(modifying a clause or predicate)
(modifying a verb)
Sure, positive, not doubting.
(obsolete) Determined; resolved.
* Milton
Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
* Bible, Dan. ii. 45
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
* Dryden
* Shakespeare
Unfailing; infallible.
* Mead
Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
* Bible, Ex. xvi. 4
Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
* Bible, Luke v. 12
* Macaulay
Having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.
* Bible, Acts xxiii. 12
* , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=3
As an adverb possibly
is (modifying a clause or predicate).As an adjective certain is
certain.possibly
English
Adverb
(en adverb)- Possibly , they will make gains in the midterm elections.
- It was possibly the costliest mistake in the organization's history.
- This rare and possibly unique specimen must be conserved.
- I'm much stronger than you, so you can't possibly win.
- I couldn't possibly be there on time.
- I couldn't possibly cheat on my wife.
- It seems unlikely, but, yes, they could possibly win even now.
- The police don't know him, and the information they have leads them to think he could possibly have murdered his wife.
Synonyms
* conceivably, maybe, perhaps, potentiallyAntonyms
* impossibly * inevitably * certainlycertain
English
Adjective
(wikipedia certain) (en adjective)- I was certain of my decision.
- However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.
- The dream is certain , and the interpretation thereof sure.
- Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
- Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
- Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
- I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
- The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
- It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
- About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.
Synonyms
* See alsoAntonyms
* (not doubting) uncertain * (sure to happen) impossible, incidentalDerived terms
* certainlyDeterminer
(en determiner)- Certain of the Jews banded together.
citation, passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”}}