likely candidates• Check and triple check the likely candidates.• Stirling continued to trawl among acquaintances and friends for likely candidates.• Thames, NorthWest and Severn Trent are the most likely candidates.• For several reasons the first and last of these are the most likely candidates and each has its proponents.• Film stars, such as Marilyn Monroe, are likely candidates, and the pressure of such a role can createunbearableconflict.• Theoretically, bats could do the same thing, but dolphins seem more likely candidates because they are in general more social.• Three likely candidates for study are the comets Enke, Tempel 2 and Honday-Mrkos-Pajdusakova.• The police kept up their enquiries and one or two likely candidates rose to the surface, but nothing was clearly actionable.
likely2 ●●○adverbadv
1PROBABLYprobably 大概,很可能
most/very likely
I’d very likely have done the same thing in your situation.
我要是处在你这种情况,也很有可能会那样做的。
(as) likely as not spoken (=very probably) 很可能
As likely as not, the meeting will take place in the village pub.
会议很有可能就在村子的酒馆里开。
2not likely!spoken especially British EnglishBrENO used to disagree strongly, or to say that something will not happen 才不呢!不可能!〔表示强烈反对或断言某事不会发生〕
‘He said you’d be giving them a lift.’ ‘Not likely!’
most/very likely• With the United States running a currentaccountdeficit of staggeringdimensions, the most likely candidate is not hard to spot.• Mixed in with most of the words in Englishand very likely every other language-is some taint of liking or disliking.• I'd most likely have done the same thing in your situation.• If you are having problems with your asthma, it most likelymeans that you are not on an appropriate treatment plan.• The party's most likelyrecourse is a face-savingcompromise with the Ministry of Finance that does not alter the statusquo.• So it's very likely she told you a few fibs.• It is most likely they are all linked.• This is most likely to happen where the wife has not worked outside the home.• In practice the most likelyvictim of insider dealing is the market maker with whom the insider trades.