What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Surely vs Perhaps - What's the difference?

surely | perhaps |

As adverbs the difference between surely and perhaps

is that surely is without fail while perhaps is Modifies a verb, indicating a lack of certainty.

surely

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • Without fail.
  • :
  • Certainly, undoubtedly.
  • :
  • *
  • *:But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window.
  • With confidence.
  • :
  • Quotations

    *1611 , (King James Version of the Bible), 1:1 *:Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.

    Synonyms

    * certainly, wis

    perhaps

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.}}
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (rare) By chance.
  • * "...will live until he dies perhaps , and then lie down in clover." --Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl (song)
  • Synonyms

    * belike * maybe * mayhap * peradventure * perchance