What's the difference between improbable and possible?

Improbable


Definition:

  • (a.) Not probable; unlikely to be true; not to be expected under the circumstances or in the usual course of events; as, an improbable story or event.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Schneiderlin, valued at an improbable £27m, and the currently injured Jay Rodriguez are wanted by their former manager Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs, but the chairman Ralph Krueger has apparently called a halt to any more outgoings, saying: “They are part of the core that we have decided to keep at Southampton.” He added: “Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin are not for sale and they will be a part of our club as we enter the new season.” The new manager Ronald Koeman has begun rebuilding by bringing in Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pellè from the Dutch league and Krueger said: “We will have players coming in, we will make transfers to strengthen the squad.
  • (2) He admitted that he had “no reason” to fire the shots that killed Steenkamp, as Nel told him: “Your version is so improbable, that nobody would ever think it’s reasonably, possibly true, it’s so impossible … Your version is a lie.” Nel said the phrase “I love you” appeared only twice in WhatsApp messages from Steenkamp and, on both occasions, they were written to her mother: “Never to you and you never to her.” Day 20: live coverage as it happened.
  • (3) Their behavior may be rationalized by assuming that at low concentrations they bind to the primary binding site making rebinding of once dissociated [3H]QNB molecules improbable (competitive mechanism), whereas at high concentrations they also act on a secondary (allosteric) binding site stabilizing the [3H]QNB receptor complexes by slowing their off-kinetics.
  • (4) As for the speaker in parliament Thura Shwe Mann, a former general, he has formed an improbable alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi, on the assumption that she might help him thwart the plans of his former cronies.
  • (5) He is helped by constituency boundaries that skew the pitch in Labour’s favour, but even then the leap required looks improbable.
  • (6) It is improbable that the platform-pendulum controversy is due to differences in the amount of PS deprivation or the other sleep parameters measured here.
  • (7) Comparison of the upstream regions of the SAA genes with those of the rat fibrinogen genes, whose expression is also induced by inflammation, reveals sequences common to all six genes which are very improbable on a random basis.
  • (8) No positive reactions occurred in either of the tests so that phototoxic effects can be excluded and a photoallergic potential is improbable.
  • (9) It said those concerned were "not shouting it from the rooftops" but "sheltering their holdings behind increasingly improbably names".
  • (10) This finding in conjunction with the observation that the generation of (Phe, G)- and Pro--L-specific responses were associated in individual recipients injected with limiting inocula of thymocytes indicated that a single population of thymocytes was stimulated by (Phe,G)-Pro--L. Therefore, it is improbable that the thymic population of immunocompetent cells contributes to expression of these genetically controlled defects.
  • (11) (viii) It is highly improbable that within the last few years two viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2) that are only 40% sequence-related would have evolved that could both cause the newly defined syndrome AIDS.
  • (12) The chromosome abnormalities were so severe that it is highly improbable that mitosis led to successful nuclear multiplication within a given syncytium.
  • (13) The Argentinian's equaliser was also hit from an improbable angle but it was a much more presentable chance than his first-half efforts – City's passing move had been direct, featuring two consecutive forward passes with Nasri playing a wonderful assist, and City had cut through the Chelsea defence swiftly.
  • (14) Jackson, too, wears black shoes and black clothes, and, improbably for his age, has mostly black hair.
  • (15) They could have scored more had they needed to but began to play overambitious passes and attempt improbable shots.
  • (16) So it didn't matter how unlike Miliband Wallace was, as long as they shared the attribute of seeming an improbable sort to be prime minister.
  • (17) Its perception of the improbability of living states is at least partially an artifact of closed system thinking.
  • (18) Typical arrangements of the EEG-context which make improbable an assumption of a structural lesion can be demonstrated for certain anterior-left as well as posterior-right localized patterns.
  • (19) The narrative drivers are pretty slack – improbable dialogue ("I'm a very wealthy man, Miss Steele, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies"); lame characterisation; irritating tics (a constant war between Steele's "subconscious", which is always fainting or putting on half-moon glasses, and her "inner goddess", who is forever pouting and stamping); and an internal monologue that goes like this … "Holy hell, he's hot!
  • (20) It therefore seems improbable that a definitive decision concerning the use of one or another of these agents can be made.

Possible


Definition:

  • (a.) Capable of existing or occurring, or of being conceived or thought of; able to happen; capable of being done; not contrary to the nature of things; -- sometimes used to express extreme improbability; barely able to be, or to come to pass; as, possibly he is honest, as it is possible that Judas meant no wrong.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, as other patients who lived at the periphery of the Valserine valley do not appear to be related to any patients living in the valley, and because there has been considerable immigration into the valley, a number of hypotheses to explain the distribution of the disease in the region remain possible.
  • (2) Standardization is possible after correction by the protein content of each individual section.
  • (3) The significance of minor increases in the serum creatinine level must be recognized, so that modifications of drug therapy can be made and correction of possibly life-threatening electrolyte imbalances can be undertaken.
  • (4) The possibility that the ventral nerve photoreceptor cells serve a neurosecretory function in the adult Limulus is discussed.
  • (5) In Patient 2 they were at first paroxysmal and unformed, with more prolonged metamorphopsia; later there appeared to be palinoptic formed images, possibly postictal in nature.
  • (6) However, medicines have an important part to play, and it is now generally agreed that for the very poor populations medicines should be restricted to those on an 'essential drugs list' and should be made available as cheaply as possible.
  • (7) The various evocational changes appear to form sets of interconnected systems and this complex network seems to embody some plasticity since it has been possible to suppress experimentally some of the most universal evocational events or alter their temporal order without impairing evocation itself.
  • (8) Coronary arteritis has to be considered as a possible etiology of ischemic symptoms also in subjects who appear affected by typical atherosclerotic ischemic heart disease.
  • (9) This induction is sensitive to actinomycin D but not to protein synthesis inhibitor puromycin, indicating an effect of estradiol at the transcriptional level, possibly mediated by the estrogen receptor.
  • (10) This new observation offers good possibilities to study the metabolism of tryptophan at the cellular level.
  • (11) From these data it is possible to predict theoretically the apparent temperature difference as seen by an infrared scanner or radiometer with a detector of which the spectral detectivity, D (lambda), is known.
  • (12) This is a fascinating possibility for solving the skin shortage problem especially in burn cases.
  • (13) Since 1987, it has become possible to obtain immature ova from the living animal and to let them mature, fertilize and develop into embryos capable of transplantation outside the body.
  • (14) These cells contained organelles characteristic of the maturation stage ameloblast and often extended to the enamel surface, suggesting a possible origin from the ameloblast layer.
  • (15) Four cytotoxic antibiotics, bikaverin, duclauxine, PSX-1 and vermiculine, were examined with respect to their interference with glycolysis and respiration and their possible ionophoric or cytolytic activity.
  • (16) These results are discussed in relation to the possible existence of enzyme-bound intermediates of nitrogen fixation.
  • (17) For viewers in the US, you get the worst possible in-game managerial interview in Mike Matheny, one that's so bad, it's actually great!
  • (18) A possible role for mitochondria in myocardial adenosine production is discussed.
  • (19) Together these observations suggest that cytotactin is an endogenous cell surface modulatory protein and provide a possible mechanism whereby cytotactin may contribute to pattern formation during development, regeneration, tumorigenesis, and wound healing.
  • (20) Results suggest that Cd-MT is reabsorbed and broken down by kidney tubule cells in a physiological manner with possible subsequent release of the toxic cadmium ion.