Seldom vs Probable - What's the difference?
seldom | probable |
Infrequently, rarely.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.}}
*{{quote-news, year=2013, date=April 9, author=Andrei Lankov, title=Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff., work=New York Times
, passage=People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days?}}
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (obsolete) rare; infrequent
Likely or most likely to be true.
Likely to happen.
Supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating.
(obsolete) Capable of being proved.
In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between seldom and probable
is that seldom is (obsolete) rare; infrequent while probable is (obsolete) capable of being proved.As adjectives the difference between seldom and probable
is that seldom is (obsolete) rare; infrequent while probable is likely or most likely to be true.As an adverb seldom
is infrequently, rarely.seldom
English
Adverb
(en adverb)citation
End of the peer show, passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
Usage notes
It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. * Compare He seldom ever plays tennis.'' with ''He almost never plays tennis.Synonyms
* barely * hardly * rarely * scarcely * infrequentlyAntonyms
* often * frequentlyAdjective
(en adjective)- A suppressed and seldom anger. — Jeremy Taylor.
Anagrams
* English frequency adverbsprobable
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- It's probable that it will rain tomorrow.
- The probable source of the failure was the mass of feathers in the intake manifold.
- With all the support we have, success is looking probable .
- probable''' evidence; '''probable presumption
- (Blackstone)