as in odds
a measure of how often an event will occur instead of another
the probability of flipping a coin and getting heads 50 times in a row is not good
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Recent Examples of probabilities
Investors can either position themselves before the announcement based on previous probabilities or wait to take advantage of post-earnings movements in the days that follow.
—
Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
From there, traders are assigning a better than 70% chance of cuts in both October and December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, which gauges rate cut probabilities using 30-day fed funds futures contract prices.
—Jeff Cox, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2025
Those probabilities will be totally wrong, at the beginning.
—Nate Soares, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
Earlier updates during the same period showed higher probabilities, with some forecasts seeing formation chances as high as 90 percent prior to the recent downgrades.
—Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
The extra copy is a problem, again spoiling the careful accounting of probabilities that quantum mechanics relies on.
—Matt Von Hippel, Quanta Magazine, 27 Aug. 2025
Though Chicago’s wild-card probabilities remain high, the Brewers now hold a nine-game lead over the Cubs in the National League Central.
—Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
But how much of your personality—a mercurial phenomenon—is deterministic, a set of probabilities that are no more inscrutable to algorithms than the arrangement of pieces on a chessboard?
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
The best scenario for snow on the ground on Christmas Day would be in a region highlighted in white, where probabilities exceed 90%.
—Meredith Garofalo, Space.com, 20 Dec. 2024
Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
From there, traders are assigning a better than 70% chance of cuts in both October and December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, which gauges rate cut probabilities using 30-day fed funds futures contract prices.
—Jeff Cox, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2025
Those probabilities will be totally wrong, at the beginning.
—Nate Soares, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
Earlier updates during the same period showed higher probabilities, with some forecasts seeing formation chances as high as 90 percent prior to the recent downgrades.
—Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
The extra copy is a problem, again spoiling the careful accounting of probabilities that quantum mechanics relies on.
—Matt Von Hippel, Quanta Magazine, 27 Aug. 2025
Though Chicago’s wild-card probabilities remain high, the Brewers now hold a nine-game lead over the Cubs in the National League Central.
—Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
But how much of your personality—a mercurial phenomenon—is deterministic, a set of probabilities that are no more inscrutable to algorithms than the arrangement of pieces on a chessboard?
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
The best scenario for snow on the ground on Christmas Day would be in a region highlighted in white, where probabilities exceed 90%.
—Meredith Garofalo, Space.com, 20 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for probabilities
Noun
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Each of us takes about twenty thousand breaths every single day—twenty thousand chances for the air around us to either sustain life or to quietly harm it.—
Bill Frist,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Better chances for more widespread showers and thunderstorms will come on Thursday and Friday.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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While this seems the most ideal scenario, another scenario that could be in the realm of possibilities is a final tour, but with Yungblud performing alongside the band.—
Quentin Thane Singer,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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Viewing Zionism historically helps reveal it not as a caricatured monolith but as a national movement like so many others—one that encompasses a complex past, competing ideas, and a future whose possibilities have not yet been exhausted.—
Arash Azizi,
The Atlantic,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Probabilities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/probabilities. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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