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# dubiously

«dubiously» in Mova's school dictionary: **not sure something is true, good or safe** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adverb

### meaning for a pupil

1) In a doubtful way, showing you are not sure something is true, good or safe. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#m1)

2) In a way that is not quite honest or that people suspect. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

It shows a character's doubt: someone looks, asks or answers dubiously when they don't believe or trust what they hear. Common with «look», «say», «eye», «sniff». In stories it often comes when a strange plan is suggested, for example when Mole or Rat look dubiously at Toad's latest craze.

### examples

- Mia looked dubiously at the green soup. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x1)
- «Are you sure this is the right way?» asked Dad dubiously. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x2)
- The cat sniffed the new food dubiously and walked away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x3)
- Rat eyed Toad's shiny new cart dubiously. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x4)
- Alice looked dubiously at the bottle marked «DRINK ME». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x5)
- He was dubiously quiet when Mum asked who had eaten the cake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x6)
- The teacher dubiously accepted the excuse about the dog eating the homework. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x7)
- "Well, no," replied the little boy, dubiously. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/#x8)

### note

Adverb from «dubious» (doubtful; or not to be trusted). Pronounced DYOO-bee-us-lee. Similar: doubtfully, uncertainly, warily. «Dubious» can describe the person who doubts or the thing that is doubtful (a dubious excuse).

### In the corpora

- [The Rat, «dubiously» (doubtfully): «Very good news indeed, if only—if only——».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/46-willows-ch6-part2-not-sorry-and-locked-up/22/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «dubiously» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dubiously/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.