PERHAPS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does perhaps mean? 

• PERHAPS (adverb)
  The adverb PERHAPS has 1 sense:

1. by chance

  Familiarity information: PERHAPS used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERHAPS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

By chance

Synonyms:

maybe; mayhap; peradventure; perchance; perhaps; possibly

Context example:

it may peradventure be thought that there never was such a time

 Context examples 

Perhaps it would be better to leave that to the last.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Some of the servants, very likely," she answered: "perhaps Grace Poole."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And here it may, perhaps, divert the curious reader, to give some account of my domestics, and my manner of living in this country, during a residence of nine months, and thirteen days.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Things are going well—perhaps better than you assume.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Some day, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Perhaps the tragedy which had befallen one of them had driven them from their feeding-ground.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But perhaps if she were to leave the room vacant, we might not be invited.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It is a possible "Planet Nine" — a world perhaps 10 times the mass of Earth and 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune.

(The Super-Earth that Came Home for Dinner, NASA)

Scientists think that is likely due to the smaller star being surrounded by gas, perhaps enough to mask the shockwave when it reached the star's surface.

(Kepler Catches Early Flash of an Exploding Star, NASA)

Consider—if reading had not been taught, Mrs. Radcliffe would have written in vain—or perhaps might not have written at all.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)