Thinking and knowing
Synonyms for doubtful
Synonyms for doubtful: dubious and tentative. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.
The 2 synonyms for doubtful
Interchangeable with doubtful in this sense
Audited under doubtful's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one doubtful carries in that sense.
- dubiousadjective, in the sense "fraught with uncertainty or doubt"
Recorded from the other side of the pair
These entries were written under the other word and name doubtful as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.
- tentativetentative is an adjective in the sense "unsettled in mind or opinion"
The first group is filed under doubtful's own sense. The second reaches doubtful from the partner word's entry, so the sense quoted beside it is that word's.
fraught with uncertainty or doubt
They were doubtful that the cord would hold.
The true synonym
dubious
Same sentence, swapped: They were dubious that the cord would hold.
Close but different
The game shows these three beside the answer. Each is a real word with a real meaning and none of them fits the slot doubtful is in above, which is the point the reason line makes.
- tentative
- obscure
- vague
Where doubtful turns up in the game
doubtful is the word under test in one puzzle, at Tier 3, Ridgeline. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in two other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.
The puzzles where doubtful is the trap
- hopefuladjective, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is optimistic, in the sense "feeling or expressing optimism about a future outcome", and doubtful is on the board beside it.
- optimisticadjective, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is hopeful, in the sense "expecting the best possible outcome", and doubtful is one of the three tiles that lose.
Play doubtful
The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so doubtful reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.
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Closest first: other thinking and knowing words at Ridgeline, then the same tier across the rest of the library.
A reason under every answer, not just a right answer
Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. doubtful carries 1 written reason line, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.