questionable Hear it!

questionable Definition

ques·tion·able (kwes′c̸hən ə bəl, -tyən-)

adjective

  1. that can or should be questioned or doubted; open to doubt a questionable story
  2. suspected with good reason of being immoral, dishonest, unsound, etc.
  3. not definitely as specified; uncertain of questionable excellence

questionable Related Forms
ques′·tion·able·ness noun ques′·tion·ably adverb
questionable Synonyms

questionable

modif.

  1. Justifying doubt

    doubtful, dubious, uncertain, undefined, equivocal, disputable, arguable, obscure, inconclusive, controversial, vague, unsettled, open to doubt, indeterminate, debatable, moot, unconfirmed, problematic, cryptic, occult, apocryphal, hypothetical, mysterious, oracular, enigmatic, ambiguous, indefinite, contingent, provisional, paradoxical, under advisement, under examination, open to question, up for discussion, in question, to be voted on, to be decided, hard to believe, incredible, iffy*; see also uncertain 2.

    Antonyms definite*, undoubted, certain.

  2. Having a poor appearance or reputation

    dubious, suspicious, suspect, disreputable, of doubtful character, irregular, notorious, of ill repute, unsatisfactory, unsound, thought ill of, under a cloud, unesteemed, ill-favored, unpopular, disagreeable, evil-looking, illegitimate, discreditable, disrespectable, unreliable, untrustworthy, dishonest, fly-by-night, shady*, fishy*, queer*; see also suspicious 2.

    Antonyms honored*, esteemed, reputable. See syn. study at doubtful.doubtful.

questionable Usage Examples

Preposition: on

  • ground: Keown's marginalization of the proximate goals is also questionable on textual grounds.

Infinitive complement

  • say: The advice given was questionable to say the least: Rover should stop trying to understand BMW, just start swimming with them.

Modifies a noun

  • legality: Because of the questionable legality of what we were doing, all proposed users had to be approved individually.
  • validity: The presumption that a country is safe is of questionable validity.
  • provenance: There is a general misconception that once an item passes through a public auction any questionable prior provenance would be erased.
  • assumption: However this explanation rests on some rather questionable assumptions.
  • usefulness: Some of them have questionable usefulness for CVS but exist for historical purposes.
  • legitimacy: On the other hand, as occupying forces, the US and UK governments have questionable legitimacy to reshape the Iraqi nation.

Modifying Another Word

  • ethically: Some of these might prove ethically questionable; some might not.
  • morally: George explains well a number of the morally questionable tricks used on people during negotiations.
  • highly: The basic concept of minority groups is highly questionable.
  • somewhat: Also they decided to preview some new songs, which in a shorter than usual set at a festival was a somewhat questionable decision.
  • rather: However this explanation rests on some rather questionable assumptions.
  • sometimes: The Turner Prize is sometimes fantastic and sometimes questionable but always interesting.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: Thus to say we are free beings seems questionable.
  • appear: Furthermore the philological basis of Harvey's argument appears questionable on occasion.
  • remain: The degree of precision is going to remain questionable for some time I think.
  • become: They have now - and not just in the case of Iraq - become morally questionable.
  • consider: Zetnet reserves the right not to host material it considers questionable in nature.
  • look: If age looks questionable, bring a photocopy of the childs birth certificate.