Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DUBIOUS

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pronounce DUBIOUS: Say it "DOO bee yus." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: This movie scene cracks me up: when Dr. Evil is talking about his father... "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy." Everything about this scene is dubious. The father's claims are dubious (unconvincing, unproven). The father's reputation is dubious (causing doubt, causing suspicion). And the people listening as Dr. Evil rambles about his father are dubious (full of doubt, disbelieving, unconvinced). As you've seen, the word dubious can mean both "questionable" and "questioning." If you need a word that only means "questioning: not sure, not convinced, not believing," then you might pick the word __cred_____ instead, as in "He invented the question mark? I'm __cred_____." Can you recall that one?  (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  definition: In Latin, duo means "two," and dubius means "moving in two ways: going back and forth, unsure about something, doubtful." (Dubitare is the verb--"to move in two ways, to go back and forth on something, to doubt"--and it gave us the English word "doubt.") Dubius made its way into English as "dubious," and the meaning stayed the same: "full of doubts, unsure, wavering, hesitating." In other words, dubious people are unsure, uncertain, or not convinced. And dubious things are not proven, not convincing, or not known for certain. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective: "She looks dubious;" "My skills in gymnastics are dubious." Other forms:  The adverb is "dubiously." For a noun, pick between "dubiousness" and my preference: "dubiety," pronounced "doo BYE uh tee." You can make "dubiety" plural, as in "I have some dubieties"--but at that point, you may as well say "doubts." For the sake of being thorough, there's a third noun you can pick: "dubiosity," pronounced "DOO bee YOSS ih tee." That one's rare, and it sounds hilarious, so I suggest it if you're going for a funny tone of exaggerated intellectuality. how to use it: Compared to the simpler, more common word "doubtful," our word "dubious" helps you sound more formal or serious. ("Dubious" is still a common word--just not as common as "doubtful.") You might talk about dubious people and their dubious voices, questions, pauses, silences, gestures, reactions, facial expressions, etc. And you might say that someone is dubious about something. Here's the Washington Post: "We are dubious about the practice of measuring job growth by presidential term. Presidents do not create jobs; companies and consumers do." And, you might talk about dubious things, like dubious claims, facts, statistics, or reputations. In this way, "dubious" can be a funnier, more formal alternative to "questionable:" "The salad arrived, wilting under a watery dressing and some dubious croutons." You might also find that "dubious" helps you cast doubt on something without having to use air quotes or a sarcastic tone of voice: "the dubious art of fortune-telling;" "this dubious gentleman;" "My homemade eggnog was dubious at best." examples: "His chances of success were dubious."     — David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars, 1994 "Hereditary instructions were carried by individual units of information, not by halved and quartered messages from ghostly ancestors. Mendel, despite his odd scientific lineage, and de Vries, despite his dubious personal hygiene, were right."     — Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History, 2016 has this page helped you understand "dubious"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "dubious" without saying "doubting" or "doubtful." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Something) enjoys the dubious distinction of (some award, effect, or characteristic that marks it as especially bad or troublesome)." Example 1: "Travis enjoys the dubious distinction of having the greatest number of tardies in the class." Example 2: "The book enjoyed the dubious distinction of being attacked from all sides."    — Maurizio Viroli, introduction to Machiavelli's The Prince, 2005 If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for September is "Four Quick Ways to Wreck a Sentence: From Professionally Polished to Strategically Sabotaged." In each issue this month, compare two versions of a description of a popular movie. See if you can determine which is the real one (the professionally polished version from IMDB.com) and which is the fake one (the strategically sabotaged version from yours truly). The fake one will demonstrate one of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence, listed below. So, for an extra challenge, see if you can identify which of these four has been employed in the act of sabotage. Here are the four quick ways to wreck a sentence: 1. Make the details fuzzier or fewer. 2. Jumble the order of information, forcing the reader to slow down or back up. 3. Ruin the rhythm by breaking a pattern in a pair or list. 4. Make the whole thing a chore to read by swapping in a subject that's long or abstract, and/or a verb that's vague or passive. Make it even worse by pushing the subject and the verb really far away from each other. (Naturally, if you invert each item above, you get Four Quick Ways to Strengthen a Sentence.) Here's an example: Version A: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency." Version B: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding eventual redemption and solace through acts of common decency." Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed? Answer: A is real; B is fake. The fake was created with #2, "Jumble the order of information." Readers find it easier to process information when it's in a logical or chronological order, and when they can start with the shorter, simpler words and phrases before moving on to the longer, more complex ones. Here, it's better to write "solace and eventual redemption" instead of "eventual redemption and solace," for three reasons. One, the characters in the story probably achieve solace before they achieve redemption; two, solace as a concept is less intense and less abstract than redemption; and three, "solace" is many syllables shorter than "eventual redemption." Try this one today: Version A: "Pulp Fiction: The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits come together in four tales of violence and redemption." Version B: "Pulp Fiction: The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption." Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed? To see the answers, scroll all the way down. review this word: 1. One opposite of DUBIOUS is A. ETIOLATED (weak, pale, or feeble). B. UNDISPUTED (clearly true or valid in an obvious way). C. ERSATZ (fake or pretend, like a poor imitation of the real thing). 2. Tracy Clark-Flory wrote, "Any time a dubious idea arises in conversation with friends--whether it's about _____ --I always ask questions about _____." A. wakesurfing or cliff diving .. safety equipment B. ghost sightings or the benefits of a juice cleanse .. 'scientific proof' or 'confirmation bias' C. pets as birthday gifts or pineapple slices as pizza toppings .. context and individual preferences Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B Answers to the game question: A is fake; B is real. The fake was created with #4, "Make the whole thing a chore to read by swapping in... a verb that's vague." Relatively speaking, it's boring when things "come together," but exciting when they "intertwine." a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.