dubious

[doo-bee-uh s, dyoo-] /ˈdu bi əs, ˈdyu-/
adjective
1.
doubtful; marked by or occasioning doubt:
a dubious reply.
2.
of doubtful quality or propriety; questionable:
a dubious compliment; a dubious transaction.
3.
of uncertain outcome:
in dubious battle.
4.
wavering or hesitating in opinion; inclined to doubt.
Origin
1540-50; < Latin dubius; see -ous
Related forms
dubiously, adverb
dubiousness, noun
superdubious, adjective
superdubiously, adverb
superdubiousness, noun
undubious, adjective
undubiously, adverb
undubiousness, noun
Synonyms
1. equivocal, ambiguous, obscure, unclear. 4. undecided, uncertain, hesitant, fluctuating. See doubtful.
Examples from the web for dubious
  • With undergraduates, I have more success being a (sometimes false) advocate of a text that they find dubious.
  • Parents have turned instead to dubious, and often risky, alternative therapies.
  • While they're nice little machines in general, I have remained dubious at what they can offer for the price.
  • When online travel agencies started rolling out smartphone apps, I was dubious.
  • His memoir is a blend of compelling war narrative and dubious soapboxing.
  • And they can sometimes dispense dubious advice that students might be better off ignoring.
  • The evolutionary advantages mentioned here seem dubious to me.
  • There are moments that seem dubious, but they never impede the fast-paced plot.
  • The study being done is of dubious value.
  • They're decided by a tiny number of wholly unrepresentative people with dubious to nonexistent credentials.
British Dictionary definitions for dubious

dubious

/ˈdjuːbɪəs/
adjective
1.
marked by or causing doubt: a dubious reply
2.
unsettled in mind; uncertain; doubtful
3.
of doubtful quality; untrustworthy: a dubious reputation
4.
not certain in outcome
Derived Forms
dubiously, adverb
dubiousness, noun
Word Origin
C16: from Latin dubius wavering
Word Origin and History for dubious
adj.

1540s, from Latin dubiosus "doubtful," from dubium "doubt," neuter of dubius "vacillating, moving two ways, fluctuating;" figuratively "wavering in opinion, doubting, doubtful," from duo "two" (see two), with a sense of "of two minds, undecided between two things." Old English also used tweo "two" to mean "doubt." Cf. doubt (v.). Related: Dubiously; dubiousness.