Synonyms for dubious
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Questionable
questionable, doubtful, uncertain, ambiguous, suspect, equivocal, precarious, problematic, debatable, shady, problematical, fishy, unsure, in question, unsettled, undetermined, undecided, smelly, controvertible, dubitable, vague, disputable
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.
They were renowned as people of dubious morals.
Related words
- Word family
- dubiously dubiousness
Choose the right word
That is doubtful which is fairly open to doubt; that is dubious which has become the subject of doubts so grave as scarcely to fall short of condemnation; as, a dubious reputation.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- uncertain Tom told me that he's uncertain what he should do.
- questionable There are many questionable points in this ledger.
- ambiguous The main feature of this scheme is still ambiguous.
- doubtful It's doubtful whether Tom will be able to do that.
- doubting I started doubting the accuracy of his statement.
- sketchy Carlos came across as a little sketchy to Melissa.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| dubious | steady | |
| uncertain | steady | |
| questionable | falling | |
| ambiguous | rising | |
| doubtful | falling | |
| doubting | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- vague1, shady2, fishy2
- 6 letters
- unsure2, smelly2
- 7 letters
- suspect2, sketchy2
- 8 letters
- doubtful2, doubting2
- 9 letters
- uncertain3, ambiguous4, unsettled3, undecided4, debatable4, equivocal4, dubitable
- 10 letters
- precarious4, scrupulous3, disputable4
- 11 letters
- problematic4
- 12 letters
- questionable4, undetermined4
- 13 letters
- problematical5
- 14 letters
- controvertible
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (shady2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- dubitatif
- Español
- dubitativo