c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 3243 For now, allas! vnlikly is þat we Shal euere wynne..þis cite.

1488 W. Cely Let. 15 Feb. in Cely Lett. (1975) 244 They of Brugys sayth all schall be well schorttly, but hytt ys onlyckly.

?1526 G. Hervet tr. Erasmus De Immensa Dei Misericordia sig. I.iij^v It mought seme vnlikely that so great a lake of synnes..shuld be purged & clensed with the blod of gottis & calues.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) xxxvi. sig. Rii The more yll they vtter, the more vnlykely is the redres therof ageyn.

a1650 G. Boate Irelands Nat. Hist. (1652) xvi. 125 Many will think it very unlikely, that there should be any Gold-mines in Ireland.

1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature (1724) v. 82 Make him understand how unlikely a thing it is, that they should be placed there only to adorn..a canopy over our heads.

1789 European Mag. & London Rev. July 51/2 It was unlikely that they had even read the clauses of a Bill of such dimensions.

1855 D. T. Ansted in Orr's Circle Sci.: Inorg. Nature 226 It is not unlikely that the gas thus formed occupies the place of water.

1884 H. Thompson Tumours of Bladder 55 It is not unlikely that some of these may be congenital.

1918 Harvard Law Rev. 32 163 He would point out to the court how unlikely it is that a German would disregard the law of his Fatherland.

1945 Amer. Hist. Rev. 50 607 It is unlikely that these pages will add to the reader's pleasure.

1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 1 July 19/1 Those with disease that made long survival unlikely.

2007 Brit. School at Athens Stud. 15 124/1 It seems most unlikely that such activities would have taken place in the most public part of the house.

c1450 (?c1425) St. Katherine of Siena l. 14 in Anglia (1885) 8 186 (MED) I answeryd..‘I can fynde no gretter desyre in me þan to be contynuelly nere ȝou,’ And..she answeryd, ‘And þat shalbe.’ Forsoþe, I coude not vndirstonde þe maner how it myghte so be honestly or vantagely, for vnlikly condycyone of eiþer state.

c1580 tr. Bugbears i. ii, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1897) 98 Why is it a thing vnpossyble or vnlikelie that sprites wil deall withe gold?

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 200 Thus Papists conceiue it an unlikelyer thing, that [etc.].

1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 23 Which makes it..more improbable, that they should interfere..even in the last and unlikeliest instance.

1770 J. Timbury Male-coquette I. xix. 112 I will not now marry lord Selwyn, were he ready to take me this moment; a most unlikely event!

1803 G. Culley Let. 7 Nov. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 557 More unlikely things have happened in that large city than Bobby Tate becoming Robert Tate Esqr!

1861 F. A. Paley Æschylus' Supplices (ed. 2) 979 (note) However, κἄωρα is an unlikely crasis.

1914 Bookman Apr. 210/2 The only weak point in the whole volume is the somewhat melodramatic and unlikely coincidence of having all the parties concerned meet by chance..at Madame Tussaud's Wax Works.

1983 New Scientist 1 Dec. 716/2 In the unlikely event that someone thinks I am not being entirely serious in what follows, I must say that I am in earnest.

2004 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 11 Jan. i. 15/5 Braun could not win unless support is so fragmented..that the party's nominee ultimately emerges from a ‘brokered’ convention, which most Democrats regard as a highly unlikely scenario.