Example: It is likely to rain tomorrow, so take an umbrella.
Definition
"To be likely to" expresses a high probability or expectation that something will happen or be the case. It is used to indicate that an event or situation is expected to occur based on current evidence or reasoning, as in the example: 'It is likely to rain tomorrow, so take an umbrella.'
"To be likely to" comes from the adjective "likely," which originated in Middle English from the Old Norse word "likeligr," meaning 'probable' or 'credible.' The phrase itself developed as a way to express probability, combining the verb "to be" with the adjective to indicate expectation. Did you know? The root "like" in Old English referred to similarity, which evolved into the sense of probability in "likely."
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"To be likely to" appears in the Vocaplus list "English - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (B1) - set 1", containing 123 commonly used expressions.
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