Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use doubtful in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Doubtful means subject to, or causing doubt. Example: “I find it exceedingly doubtful that any person groks quantum mechanics.”

Examples of doubtful by meaning

adjectiveSuspicious, or of dubious character.

  • Yet it is not the predominant views of the experts but the views of a minority, mostly of rather doubtful standing in their profession, which are taken up and spread by the intellectuals.1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of...

adjectiveUnclear or unreliable.

  • The pupils of her great eyes were large in the doubtful lamplight, swallowing their green fires in deep pools of mystery and darkness.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, “395–396”, in The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC

nounA doubtful person or thing.

  • They had their lists of Liberals and of the doubtfuls who still remained doubtful.1976, Kenneth Gibbons, Donald Cameron Rowat, Political Corruption in Canada: Cases, Causes and Cures, page 45

More sentences with doubtful

  • I find it exceedingly doubtful that any person groks quantum mechanics.From the entry grok
  • The candidate gave lip service to fixing the problems, but it is doubtful that he will do much.From the entry lip service
  • It's doubtful that anyone alive today will ever see a Geopbyte hard drive.2009 June 27, NightFire [comment author], “WinXP Overhaul Guide: How to Make It Look Like Vista, Run Like Lightning, and Stay Productive…. From the entry geopbyte
  • It is doubtful that the cough lolly is contributing much to the chardonnay’s buttery undertones.2007, Liane Moriarty, The Last Anniversary, page 208. From the entry cough lolly
  • It is one of Shakespeare's doubtful mystery plays. . . .2003, Martha Tuck Rozett, Constructing a World: Shakespeare's England and the New Historical Fiction, page 9. From the entry mismaneuver
  • We had the doubtful privilege of being spectators of two such raids, both instigated by girls.1966, Jonathan Aitken, Michael Beloff, A Short Walk on the Campus, page 104. From the entry pantie
  • Short-distance rail travel in this district has been a doubtful proposition ever since buses were introduced.1962 June, “Letters to the Editor: Diesel suburban services in Bristol”, in Modern Railways, page 430. From the entry short-distance
  • It is doubtful if anything can remove the stain of tea from white flannel."1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC. From the entry trousers
  • It is doubtful if the nurse or anyone else in her immediate surroundings can help her effectively.1931, The Public Health Nurse 1931-01: Volume 23, Issue 1, page 24. From the entry overcharged
  • Harold was pertinacious if not determined in this doubtful enterprise, so naïfly undertaken.1925, The Oxford Outlook, page 102. From the entry naïfly
  • It was a little doubtful. -- "What's the crab in it?" he asked.1915, W.S. Maugham, “chapter 116”, in Of Human Bondage. From the entry crab
  • And examining Marcy's priv xeets, it's doubtful you ever were.2024 April 11, @cringephibia, Twitter. From the entry xeet
  • Still it was doubtful if she could get away.2017 May 1, James S. Peters, Sadakichi Hartmann, Alien Son: A Biography, Sunstone Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 121. From the entry bakery
  • It is doubtful you could instruct Babe Ruth into being a home run king or Usain Bolt into world’s fastest human.2014, Tom Pease, “Touring Entrepreneurship Land and Meriting Citizenship: You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have”, in Small Business Survival…. From the entry gonnabe
  • Somewhat doubtful, I purchased a two-tube shoplight and suspended it over a bookcase upon which my one lonely violet stood.1995, The Gloxinian, volume 45, American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society, pages 11, 25. From the entry shoplight
  • The only exception, Tahat son of 'Elyada' son of Tahat is doubtful and is not a papponymy sensu stricto.1988, Ran Zadok, The Pre-Hellenistic Israelite Anthroponymy and Prosopography, →ISBN. From the entry Israelite
  • It may be doubtful although not impossible that Congress willing ratify cultural convention pending or preceding ratification contractuals.1986, United States. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, page 404. From the entry contractual
  • It is doubtful whether this reflects any real phonetic difference.1982, J. C. Wells, Accents of English, volume 3: Beyond the British Isles, page 595. From the entry Strine
  • All the doubtful state forces swelled the anti-Seward splatterdash.1971, William Eldon Baringer, Lincoln's Rise to Power, page 244. From the entry splatterdash
  • They have enjoyed at best a doubtful welcome there.1957, Mortimer R. Proctor, “The “Damned Tribe of Scribbling Women””, in The English University Novel, Berkeley, Calif.; Los Angeles…. From the entry collegienne
  • The pronunciation aids to Chinese names are of doubtful value.1947 May, Earl Swisher, “MacNair, China”, in Pacific Historical Review, volume XVI, number 2, University of California Press, →ISSN…. From the entry Wade-Giles
  • The more they examined, the more doubtful they became.1943, Kwok Ying Fung, “Out of Yesterday”, in China, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 14. From the entry chin
  • The provision of elephants for riding is rather doubtful.1931, The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. From the entry Jamrach
  • Rev. — A device of doubtful interpretation intersected by two crosses in saltire and surmounted by a third.1920, Numismatic Chronicle, and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, page 240. From the entry climant
  • But he wouldn’t call her sister anything but Miss Smith—or Jones or Montmorency—whichever it was.” Fred looked doubtful, and Mrs.a. 1918, William De Morgan, chapter V, in The Old Madhouse, London: William Heinemann, published 1919, pages 52–53. From the entry Christian-name
  • It's doubtful that what's in the Mac and Cheese box is the same as the old "American Cheese" Kraft used to sell.2008 February 7, Kent, “Finding Powdered Cheddar Cheese in the Bay Area?”, in ba.food (Usenet). From the entry mac and cheesy
  • The drifts of flowering snowdrops might have been matched elsewhere in Cardiff, but it is doubtful if the crocusses were, this early.2002 November, Mary E[leanor] Gillham, “Western Outliers; Fairwater, Victoria & Thompsons’ Parks”, in A Natural History of Cardiff –…. From the entry crocusses
  • Though much of what remains of Marsian is of doubtful status and meaning, the following inscription (plate 3), from Antinum, is relatively unambiguous.1999, Philip Baldi, The Foundations of Latin (Trends in Linguistics; Studies and Monographs 117), Berlin; New York, N.Y.: Mouton de…. From the entry Marsian
  • Three of the four are hale and hearty today, and it is doubtful they have forgotten a single detail of that event.1997, Arthur March, Franconia and Sugar Hill, page n.a.. From the entry hale and hearty
  • This research refers to cases of posterior melanomas which extended anteriorly, in which the utilization of the corneae for grafting was doubtful.1983, A. Loffredo, G. Cennamo, A. De Lellis, A. Sammartino, A. Del Prete, “Echographic Pattern Evaluation of Eyes with Choroid Melanoma…. From the entry cornea
  • It is doubtful, however, if she would have allowed quite so deep a wafture of lamentation to have passed her lips had she been alone.1936, John Cowper Powys, chapter 9, in Maiden Castle, Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, published 2001, page 416. From the entry wafture
  • He felt doubtful about the existence of a free vortex , and the effect of a pressure difference, due to it, upon the jet.1934, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Proceedings, volume 128, London: […] [T]he Institution, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155. From the entry squish
  • Viggo assumed a cheery offhand manner, but I could see that he was worried, doubtful as to the advisability of leaving me here alone.1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 36f. From the entry advisability
  • It seems doubtful whether she expects to Bolshevize China, though she wants China fully independent of Western imperialism and friendly to her.1927 May, Quincy Wright, “Bolshevist Influences in China”, in Current History, volume XXVI, number 2, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 302, column 2. From the entry Moscow
  • O’Hara appears as a dashing hero, Barry O’Brian, and it is doubtful if he ever had a role that fitted him so perfectly.1922 March 18, “Fiske O’Hara Coming. Popular Actor-Singer Will Play Week’s Engagement at the Russell Theatre.”, in The Ottawa Evening…. From the entry likableness
  • The picturesque reports of previously-treated and disgusted patients have left him doubtful, and he casts an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle.1914 October 11, “In camp: The day’s work of a W.A. soldier”, in The Sunday Times, number 875, Perth, W.A.: E. W. Finn for “The Sunday…. From the entry tabloid
  • The picturesque reports of previously treated and disgusted patients - have left him doubtful, and he casts, an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle.1914 October 11, The Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, page 1, column 9. From the entry blackjack

Meaning of doubtful

  1. adjective Subject to, or causing doubt.
  2. adjective Experiencing or showing doubt, skeptical.
  3. adjective Undecided or of uncertain outcome.

Full definition of doubtful

Questions about doubtful in a sentence

How do you use doubtful in a sentence?
Doubtful is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “I find it exceedingly doubtful that any person groks quantum mechanics.”
What is a short sentence with doubtful?
“All the doubtful state forces swelled the anti-Seward splatterdash.”
What does doubtful mean?
Doubtful means subject to, or causing doubt.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doubtful (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use doubtful in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/doubtful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.