questionable

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/ UK /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
open to doubt; of dubious honesty or value

The deal rested on some highly questionable accounting.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · open to doubt; of dubious... doubtful dubious suspect shady debatable disputable uncertain

Opposites

unquestionable reputable indisputable reliable

Word family

Derived forms questionablyquestionableness

Related forms question query quest inquire

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

questionable reputation
a reputation that raises doubts about someone's honesty or reliability

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From question + -able; question from Old French question, from Latin quaestio ('a seeking, inquiry'), from quaerere ('to seek, ask').

quaestio Latin quaerere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# questionable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/

## Meanings
1. open to doubt; of dubious honesty or value

## Examples
- The deal rested on some highly questionable accounting.

## Synonyms
- doubtful
- dubious
- suspect
- shady
- debatable
- disputable
- uncertain

## Antonyms
- unquestionable
- reputable
- indisputable
- reliable

## Derived Forms
- questionably
- questionableness

## Related Forms
- question
- query
- quest
- inquire

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: quaestio
- Root: quaerere

## Etymology
From question + -able; question from Old French question, from Latin quaestio ('a seeking, inquiry'), from quaerere ('to seek, ask').

## AI Etymology
Questionable is from question + -able; question from Old French question, from Latin quaestio ('a seeking, inquiry'), from quaerere ('to seek, ask'). Important recorded forms include quaestio (Latin) and quaerere (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers open to doubt; of dubious honesty or value. The wider family includes derived forms such as questionably and questionableness and related words such as question, query, quest, and inquire.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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