perhaps

perhaps
    adv 1: 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}]
    

Perhaps \Per*haps"\ (p[~e]r*h[a^]ps"), adv. [Per + hap chance.]
   Posibly; by chance; peradventure; perchance; it may be.
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         And pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may
         be forgiven thee.                        --Acts viii.
                                                  22.
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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 mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.]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}.
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             How may a man, said he, with idle speech,
             Be won to spoil the castle of his health!
                                                  --Spenser.
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             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.
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             For of all sad words of tongue or pen
             The saddest are these: "It might have been."
                                                  --Whittier.
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   (b) Liberty; permission; allowance.
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             Thou mayst be no longer steward.     --Luke xvi. 2.
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   (c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability.
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             Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance
             Some general maxims, or be right by chance. --Pope.
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   (d) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a
       question or remark.
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             How old may Phillis be, you ask.     --Prior.
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   (e) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction,
       and the like. "May you live happily." --Dryden.
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   {May be}, & {It may be}, are used as equivalent to
      {possibly}, {perhaps}, {maybe}, {by chance},
      {peradventure}. See 1st {Maybe}.
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22 Moby Thesaurus words for "perhaps":
      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