doubtfully
adverb
doubtfully is spelled D-O-U-B-T-F-U-L-L-Y: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, doubtfully means “In a doubtful manner, in context of doubt or ambiguity, questionably” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in doubtfully?
| Letters | 10: D-O-U-B-T-F-U-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 14 million words; the 114,361st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is doubtfully?
Doubtfully appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce doubtfully?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-doubtfully.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of doubtfully
- more doubtfully comparative
- most doubtfully superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does doubtfully mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a doubtful manner, in context of doubt or ambiguity, questionably.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Doubtfully in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense doubtful manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | douteusement |
| Portuguese | dubitavelmente |
| Spanish | dudosamente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does doubtfully come from?
From Middle English dowtfully, doutefulli, equivalent to doubtful + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).