'Perhaps' definitions:
Definition of 'perhaps'
From: WordNet
adverb
By chance; "perhaps she will call tomorrow"; "we may possibly run into them at the concert"; "it may peradventure be thought that there never was such a time" [syn: possibly, perchance, perhaps, maybe, mayhap, peradventure]
Definition of 'Perhaps'
From: GCIDE
- Perhaps \Per*haps"\ (p[~e]r*h[a^]ps"), adv. [Per + hap chance.] Posibly; by chance; peradventure; perchance; it may be. [1913 Webster]
- And pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. --Acts viii. 22. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'perhaps'
From: GCIDE
- May \May\ (m[=a]), v. [imp. Might (m[imac]t)] [AS. pres. maeg I am able, pret. meahte, mihte; akin to D. mogen, G. m["o]gen, OHG. mugan, magan, Icel. mega, Goth. magan, Russ. moche. [root]103. Cf. Dismay, Main strength, Might. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.] An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. [1913 Webster]
- How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health! --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: "It might have been." --Whittier. [1913 Webster] (b) Liberty; permission; allowance. [1913 Webster]
- Thou mayst be no longer steward. --Luke xvi. 2. [1913 Webster] (c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. [1913 Webster]
- Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance. --Pope. [1913 Webster] (d) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. [1913 Webster]
- How old may Phillis be, you ask. --Prior. [1913 Webster] (e) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. "May you live happily." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- May be, & It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'perhaps'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- blind guess,
- bold conjecture,
- conceivably,
- conjecture,
- feasibly,
- guess,
- haply,
- hunch,
- imaginably,
- it may be,
- maybe,
- perchance,
- possibly,
- rough guess,
- shot,
- speculation,
- stab,
- suppose,
- supposition,
- surmise,
- unverified supposition,
- wild guess