PROBABLE CAUSE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Probable cause

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/prˈɑbəbəl kɑz/ Listen

adjective

Probable adj.

1.

Capable of being proved. (Obs.)

2.

Having more evidence for than against; supported by evidence which inclines the mind to believe, but leaves some room for doubt; likely. "That is accounted probable which has better arguments producible for it than can be brought against it." "I do not say that the principles of religion are merely probable; I have before asserted them to be morally certain."

3.

Rendering probable; supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating; as, probable evidence; probable presumption.

Probable cause (Law), a reasonable ground of presumption that a charge is, or my be, well founded.

Probable error (of an observation, or of the mean of a number), that within which, taken positively and negatively, there is an even chance that the real error shall lie. Thus, if 3" is the probable error in a given case, the chances that the real error is greater than 3" are equal to the chances that it is less. The probable error is computed from the observations made, and is used to express their degree of accuracy.

The probable, that which is within the bounds of probability; that which is not unnatural or preternatural; opposed to the marvelous.

See images of 'Probable cause'

Etymology of 'Probable cause'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Probable cause" Quotes from Famous Books

... not think if I should see that man I could go through my part. It requires nerve, as you know, and my nerves would be so shaken that my life would be in peril. If you ever hear of my meeting with an accident, you may guess the probable cause." ...

— The Young Acrobat of the Great North American Circus • Horatio Alger Jr.

... spoke of Betty, her newly-acquired dignity, and of the probable cause of her change of manners, to my father. When this theme was started, a certain coldness and reserve overspread his features. He dealt in monosyllables, and either laboured to change the subject or made some excuse for ...

— Arthur Mervyn - Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 • Charles Brockden Brown

... accompanied Mr. Stocking to Gawar, was deacon Isaac. After spending a few days with Mr. Stocking, he proceeded to Kochanis, the residence of his brother, whither his family had previously gone on a visit. The influence of this deacon and his amiable wife was the probable cause of the unusual conduct of the Patriarch in a visit he shortly afterwards made to Gawar, when he received the missionary and his native helpers with the greatest apparent cordiality in the presence of a large number of ecclesiastics, ...

— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

... me," said Wiggins, gloomily. "Has not your conscience already suggested to you the probable cause of this strange course of her ...

— The Living Link • James De Mille

... consent alone was wanting. Of that consent, under ordinary circumstances, he could make sure. But he had seen a close and strong friendship arising between Mimi and her preserver. This Claude considered as a better and more probable cause for his hate. If this were indeed so, and if this hate grew up out of jealousy, then his prospects were indeed dark, for jealousy is as cruel as ...

— The Lily and the Cross - A Tale of Acadia • James De Mille

Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com