(that's) a likely story!
likely
adverb
uk /ˈlaɪ.kli/ us /ˈlaɪ.kli/
probably: 有可能地
She will likely need surgery.她有可能需要动手术。
 as likely as not
C1
probably: 有可能地
As likely as not, she'll end up in court over this problem.关于这个问题她最终很可能会诉诸法律。
 most/very likely
C1
very probably: 非常有可能
Most likely he'll turn up late.
 not likely!
B1informal
certainly not!: 当然不！
"Do you want to come running with me?" "Not likely!"

likely | American Dictionary

likely
adjective
us/ˈlɑɪk·li/
expected to happen; probable:
[ + to infinitive ]If I don’t write it down, I’m likely to forget.
likely
adverb
us/ˈlɑɪ·kli/
probably:
I’ll most likely get there at about ten o’clock.

Examples of likely

likely
Their youth means that they are likely to be present in the human population in an 'unfixed' (heterozygous) state and in a relatively small population.
Determination of which positions are likely to be disease associated is a challenging and important problem.
While strong periodicities from random records are unlikely, the presence of weaker pseudoperiodicity in a noisy signal is more likely.
Based on the consistency and the rate of independent confirmation, many of the genes listed in the tables are likely to be true positives.
In this case it is likely that the sensitivity of our assay permits the detection of homing products.
If the corroborating evidence is strong and the risk is low, the data are more likely to be considered sufficiently reliable for your purposes.
The process is likely to be different for each engagement.
The journey is as likely to end in solipsism as in 'the consecration and the poet's dream'.
The maximum impact on overall postal rates is, however, likely to be limited.
Furthermore, based on previous experience, some of these patients are likely to harbor acquired point mutations in the target kinase that confer resistance.
Previous research reports that physicians are more likely to diagnose hyperlipidemia if laboratory reports show abnormal lipid levels.
As such, an organization's success in managing security-related efforts is likely to hinge on its overall ability to manage its use of information technology.
In their reception of a play, characters of major importance whose dress was not likely to be emulated by readers disappear entirely.
In some plays the configuration is likely but not certain.
Clastic sedimentation ceased, most likely in response to a major transgression.
See all examples of likely
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.