What's the difference between maybe and perhaps?

Maybe


Definition:

  • (adv.) Perhaps; possibly; peradventure.
  • (a.) Possible; probable, but not sure.
  • (n.) Possibility; uncertainty.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Mike Ashley told Lee Charnley that maybe he could talk with me last week but I said: ‘Listen, we cannot say too much so I think it’s better if we wait.’ The message Mike Ashley is sending is quite positive, but it was better to talk after we play Tottenham.” Benítez will ask Ashley for written assurances over his transfer budget, control of transfers and other spheres of club autonomy, but can also reassure the owner that the prospect of managing in the second tier holds few fears for him.
  • (2) Maybe the world economy goes tits up again, only this time we punish the rich instead of the poor.
  • (3) But what they take for a witticism might very well be true; most of Ellis's novels tell more or less the same story, about the same alienated ennui, and maybe they really are nothing more than the fictionalised diaries of an unremarkably unhappy man.
  • (4) "Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain," Wallace wrote at one point, "because something that's dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from."
  • (5) Maybe it’s because they are skulking, sedentary creatures, tied to their post; the theatre critic isn’t going anywhere other than the stalls, and then back home to write.
  • (6) But we sent out reconnoitres in the morning; we send out a team in advance and they get halfway down the road, maybe a quarter of the way down the road, sometimes three-quarters of the way down the road – we tried this three days in a row – and then the shelling starts and while I can’t point the finger at who starts the shelling, we get the absolute assurances from the Ukraine government that it’s not them.” Flags on all Australian government buildings will be flown at half-mast on Thursday, and an interdenominational memorial service will be held at St Patrick’s cathedral in Melbourne from 10.30am.
  • (7) Just last week he said: "Maybe I'll be a bit more chilled about it this year.
  • (8) I’m probably still far too immature, but maybe as I get older I could consider it.
  • (9) Perinatal brain damage produced by early zinc deficiency followed by rehabilitation with adequate zinc appears to be long term, maybe permanent.
  • (10) As cryptographer Matthew Green told the New York Times, 'If we could get $500,000 kicked back to OpenSSL and teams like it, maybe this kind of thing won't happen again."
  • (11) The guy upstairs, I heard he was maybe affiliated with Islamic Jihad, but he wasn't there.
  • (12) We just hope that … maybe she’s gone to see her friend, talk some sense into her,” Renu said, adding that Shamima “knew that it was a silly thing to do” and that she did not know why her friend had done it.
  • (13) Maybe in some senses this is the new face of friendship.
  • (14) On the other hand, maybe Riley is just the beginning.
  • (15) "This is the guy we've all seen in Borders or HMV on a Friday afternoon, possibly after a drink or two, tie slightly undone, buying two CDs, a DVD and maybe a book - fifty quid's worth - and frantically computing how he's going to convince his partner that this is a really, really worthwhile investment."
  • (16) In the end, the emails from citizen scientists nailed the timing: “looks like it started maybe December 2015”; the severity: “I’ve seen dieback before, but not like this”; and the cause: “guessing it may be the consequence of the four-year drought”.
  • (17) Doesn’t it ever need a break?” “Maybe it likes it,” he shoots back, a twinkle in his eye.
  • (18) Musk revealed his love for Kerbal Space Program in a Q&A in Reddit , joking (or maybe not?)
  • (19) Maybe he was simply obeying orders, since Gordon Brown is not about to sanction a radical overhaul of the tripartite system of financial regulation he created.
  • (20) "Maybe that's why they can't afford anywhere bigger: because they're always late for work."

Perhaps


Definition:

  • (adv.) By chance; peradventure; perchance; it may be.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A shrinking populace is perhaps a greater challenge than any problems with Russia.
  • (2) For dental procedures requiring tracheal intubation, one could perhaps use non-depolarizing muscle relaxants, like pancuronium, with reversal at the end of the procedure.
  • (3) Perhaps they can laugh it all off more easily, but only to the extent that the show doesn’t instill terror for how this country’s greatness will be inflicted on them next.
  • (4) And perhaps it’s this longevity that accounts for her popularity: a single tweet from Williams (who has 750,000 followers) about the series will prompt a Game Of Thrones news story.
  • (5) Histopathological studies confirmed that mice fed 933cu-rev died from bilateral renal cortical tubular necrosis consistent with toxic insult, perhaps due to Shiga-like toxins.
  • (6) Accumulating evidence indicates that for most tumors, the switch to the angiogenic phenotype depends upon the outcome of a balance between angiogenic stimulators and angiogenic inhibitors, both of which may be produced by tumor cells and perhaps by certain host cells.
  • (7) Cocktails of two or more BsAbs, selected to bind to multiple epitopes on ribosome-inactivating proteins and perhaps also on unwanted cells, could provide an important new strategy in immunotherapy.
  • (8) Higuaín was not fully fit which, with Rodrigo Palacio out with a calf injury, perhaps in part explained why Alejandro Sabella had made the change.
  • (9) Therefore, the evolutionary origins, and perhaps the functions, of the Ia gamma chains are distinct from those of the other two Ia subunits alpha and beta.
  • (10) Because TNF mRNA appeared ubiquitous in the organs of control rats examined and because the endotoxin-induced increase in TNF mRNA was relatively small, endotoxin may induce the expression of the TNF protein in serum not only by increasing TNF mRNA levels but perhaps more importantly by a posttranscriptional mechanism.
  • (11) The results of the study suggest that perhaps tobramycin of cefotaxime-impregnated PMMA beads would produce local levels of antibiotic high enough to sterilize a given dead space for a period of 28 days.
  • (12) Perhaps there were some other generations in Portuguese football with more talent, but they didn’t win.
  • (13) This may have been a pointed substitute programme, management perhaps imagining a future where electronic presenters will simply download their minds to MP3-players.
  • (14) "Medical professionals have perhaps been the least involved [of all sectors] in debates and discussions around abortion, and anti-choice groups have very effectively carried out a deliberate strategy of targeting and influencing health professionals.
  • (15) Thus, a4 and a2 alleles of the c-Ha-ras-1 may perhaps be viewed as genetic markers of predisposition to lung, ovarian and thyroid cancer, respectively, in combination with other clinical parameters.
  • (16) The use of the first oversulfation method provides slightly oversulfated derivatives which exhibit strong anticoagulant properties and may constitute effective antithrombotic drugs with no bleeding tendency, a side effect perhaps related to a high rate of sulfation.
  • (17) There is a heavy, leaden feeling in your chest, rather as when someone you love dearly has died; but no one has – except, perhaps, you.
  • (18) For somewhere else, perhaps, the show was just about to begin.
  • (19) We support the view that catalysis by metalloenzymes may be a reflection of the chemistry of the metal ion itself as a Lewis acid, and that perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on supposed special characteristics (such as strains, "entasis") of the enzyme-metal ion association.
  • (20) Systematic treatment of aberrant subclavian arteries should perhaps be considered when it can be performed during thoracic surgery.