Literary notes about Likely (AI summary)
The word "likely" is employed in literature to suggest probability, expectation, or even inevitability, and its usage spans multiple functions and genres. In some texts, it is used as a predicate adjective to imply that something fits a certain description or is predisposed to occur, as seen when Sir Tristram encounters "two likely knights" ([1]) or when certain events are portrayed as bound to happen, such as a report "more than likely" turning out negative ([2]). In other contexts, authors use "likely" to express personal disposition or fate—characters may doubt their prospects, saying "I don't think I am likely to marry" ([3]) or noting that a talent "was not likely to go unappreciated" ([4]). The term also appears in analytical or observational passages—from geological processes being "likely to move slowly" ([5]) to legal judgments about cases on a "doubtful border" being "likely to be carried far in court" ([6]). Whether indicating a mundane chance occurrence or a more elaborate prediction of behavior, the word “likely” enriches narratives by interweaving probability with character insight and thematic nuance.
- THEN within a while Sir Tristram saw them afore him, two likely knights.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - “Well, I'll come out by the same train to-morrow, though it's more than likely that my report will be a negative one.”
— from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - " "I don't think I am likely to marry, Harry.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Indeed the talents of a rich and accomplished young fellow like Harry were not likely to go unappreciated in such a place.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - The shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in an easterly direction.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw - This is the region of the jury, and only cases falling on this doubtful border are likely to be carried far in court.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes
