Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use dubious in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Dubious means arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion. Example: “After he made some dubious claims about the company, fewer people trusted him.”

Examples of dubious by meaning

adjectiveArousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.

  • After he made some dubious claims about the company, fewer people trusted him.
  • They were renowned as people of dubious morals.
  • There are several reasons why the line's future is now dubious.1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 173

adjectiveIn disbelief; wavering, uncertain, or hesitating in opinion; inclined to doubt; undecided.

  • She was dubious about my plan at first, but later I managed to persuade her to cooperate.
  • Next year, he faces a new Congress much more dubious about the reality of climate change and considerably more hostile to international efforts to deal with it.2010, John M. Broder, "Global Climate-Change Talks Begin in Cancun With More Modest Expectations", New York Times, November 30, Section A...

More sentences with dubious

  • The loan shark added another 10% as the risk premium for an especially dubious borrower.From the entry risk premium
  • The attribution of the quote is widely regarded as dubious.From the entry attribution
  • The detective's reconstruction of what happened that night is dubious.From the entry reconstruction
  • Processed foods are of dubious nutritional value.From the entry processed
  • We screened out the dubious candidates yesterday.From the entry screened
  • He came out with a very dubious excuse.From the entry come out with
  • The entire breadbasket region was overplanted with cultivars that were more disease-prone but had the dubious advantage of lower seed cost.From the entry overplant
  • "The big league athlete had the dubious honor of being voted 'Most Difficult to Interview' by the sportswriters." An ironic honor, so to speak.From the entry dubious honor
  • "I have the dubious honor of being in charge of fundraising for roof repair on the town youth gymnasium." Meaning, it's an honor to be tasked yet something unwanted.From the entry dubious honor
  • Jacob's claim to fame is dubious, not like his father Adam's, the wood hewer par excellence.2014, Patricia Moore, Restored To Life, →ISBN, page 161. From the entry wood hewer
  • They might remain skeptical of our reasons, but certainly no more dubious than the dwarves."2013, Jeff Inlo, Delver Magic Book I: Sanctum's Breach. From the entry elflore
  • Mr Hudson was placed on List 99, which bars dubious characters from teaching jobs.2006, The Economist. From the entry List 99
  • And that was that: Greg labelled as a dubious character, a bullier of young kids.2004, Linda Newbery, The Shell House, page 131. From the entry bullier
  • Dubious as this charge sounded, it added to the general philliloo.1968, Helen Lawrenson, Latins are Still Lousy Lovers, page 69. From the entry philliloo
  • Perhaps these quotations arose from some in-joke of Yule’s, but whatever the case the lexicographical worth of these citations is dubious.2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography…. From the entry in-joke
  • That dubious honour went to her mother.2017, Ally Blake, Tell Me True, Tule Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry burny
  • While the benefits of weeder classes may be dubious in the short run, they definitely pay dividends in the long run.2015 November 18, Aurash Jalalian, “Weeder Courses Are Par For the Course”, in The Bottom Line, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2021. From the entry weeder class
  • Besides the decidedly unvegetarian salmon, there were baked potatoes (acceptable), beet salad (dubious), and lima beans (clearly inedible).2009, Susannah Terrell French, Operation Redwood, New York, N.Y.: Amulet Books, published 2011, →ISBN. From the entry unvegetarian
  • Can there be a more dubious moment in the entire poem than this precariously enjambed impersonation of prophetic forthspeaking?2008, Herbert F. Tucker, Epic: Britain's heroic muse, 1790-1910. From the entry forthspeaking
  • With too many fill-ins the statistical results become dubious.1992, Terry J. Reedy, Chandra L. Reedy, Principles of Experimental Design for Art Conservation Research. From the entry fill-in
  • Prometheus believes that he is the only benefactor of mankind, and he is unaware of the dubious quality of his gifts.1943, Eirik Vandvik, The Prometheus of Hesiod and Aeschylus, page 31. From the entry tragicalness
  • You both "don't mean anything", but suppose you did happen to get the girl discharged with a very dubious character?1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries. From the entry gallivant
  • He was very dubious at first, but I believe the fellow is genuine in his attachment to the house.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry melt
  • When a word occurs only in Indo-European languages of northern or western Europe, for instance, projecting that word back to Proto-Indo-European is considered dubious.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 27. From the entry project
  • For all of these reasons, it is dubious that new textualists have solved, or even significantly ameliorated, the levels ‐ of ‐ generality problem.2015, Bassham, Gregory, Oakley, Ian, New Textualism: The Potholes Ahead., Ratio Juris. Vol. 28 No. 1 March 2015 (127–48). From the entry delegational
  • In the attributive use, the adjective, within an NP, is attached to the head noun, e.g. a dubious company, a red balloon, the stupid driver.2013, Sebastian Loebner, Understanding Semantics. From the entry attributive
  • They realize that this theory is dubious, and so what they have done is they have created a rather elaborate axiomatic framework.2012, 47:31 – 49:50 from the start, in Difficulties with real numbers as infinite decimals (I) Real numbers + limits Math Foundations 91…. From the entry axiom of choice
  • Picking at the fine construances of words—half of which come to us through translations of dubious accuracy—would be no ally to our need for alacrity.2012, Eric Flint, Charles E. Gannon, 1635: The Papal Stakes, Baen Books. From the entry construance
  • No matter how dubious, or even fictitious, examination gradings may sometimes be, they make judgements possible on educational progress and on the maintenance of standards.2003, Peter Jarvis, Colin Griffin, Adult and Continuing Education: Liberal adult education (part 1). From the entry grading
  • Give up surrealism that only nourishes subrealism; the two of them, along with the so-called "natural," have got a dubious stench of urinals and churches.1981, Charles Russell, The Avant-garde Today: An International Anthology, page 208. From the entry subrealism
  • Having exhausted the sporting adventures of this terrestrial globe, he is now turning to those of the dim, dark and dubious regions of psychic research.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html)…. From the entry psychic
  • Gedeon Van Rompay had the dubious distinction of being the only Site employee personally hired by Edwin Falkirk, former All Sections Chief and perennial piece of human trash.2023 September 16, HarryBlank, “Borrowing Trouble”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2024. From the entry odious
  • But is doubling your workload the answer to a rapidly volatile job climate, or is it a legally dubious practice that puts employers on the back foot?[2022 October 7, Isobel O'Sullivan, “Overemployment: Why Are People Choosing to Work Two Jobs?”, in Tech.co, archived from the original on…. From the entry oe
  • For example, he construed from my xanthophobia that I must first have serialised my reminiscences in the yellow-backed Holywell Street Journal, of dubious and questionable memory.2021, Nick Dunn-Meynell, edited by David Macrum, A Proof Reader’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Andrews UK, →ISBN, page 187. From the entry xanthophobia
  • Christians must learn to examine both sides in order to develop “sales resistance” to the many dubious ideas hawked in the media, politics, education, entertainment, and yes, churches.2015, Nancy Pearcey, Finding Truth, page 254. From the entry sales resistance

Meaning of dubious

  1. adjective Arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.
  2. adjective In disbelief; wavering, uncertain, or hesitating in opinion; inclined to doubt; undecided.
  3. adjective Generally considered imprecise or wrong, but not totally unplayable.

Full definition of dubious

Questions about dubious in a sentence

How do you use dubious in a sentence?
Dubious is used as an adjective. For example: “After he made some dubious claims about the company, fewer people trusted him.”
What is a short sentence with dubious?
“Processed foods are of dubious nutritional value.”
What does dubious mean?
Dubious means arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dubious (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 dubious in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dubious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.