PERHAPS

I. pə(r)ˈhaps, pəˈra-, ˈpra- also chiefly -R ˈpa- sometimes -R pəˈa- adverb

Etymology: per + haps, plural of hap (chance)

: possibly but not certainly : maybe

drove on … for perhaps fifty yards — William Faulkner

perhaps this is true, but it is certainly debatable — R.H.Walker

here perhaps I ought to say — James Gray

II. noun

( -es )

1. : something open to doubt or conjecture : speculation , supposition

make ourselves uncomfortable to any extent with perhapses — John Ruskin

2. usually capitalized : the postulate of a life after death

a belief in the great Perhaps — Thornton Wilder