“Skeptical” or “Sceptical”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 9 prefer “skeptical” and 0 prefer “sceptical”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	skeptical	sceptical	Preference
United States	92	8	“skeptical”
United Kingdom	50	50	No clear preference
India	68	32	“skeptical”
Philippines	92	8	“skeptical”
Canada	83	17	“skeptical”
Australia	56	44	“skeptical”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	51	49	“skeptical”
New Zealand	61	39	“skeptical”
Jamaica	72	28	“skeptical”
Trinidad & Tobago	59	41	“skeptical”
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“skeptical”

…Festival and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), peace (e.g., the Peace…
…shop-owners in South India were skeptical about the products Jue-Rajasingh and…
Model was also skeptical of the plan's chances, pointing…
Skeptical Science
Wilson was skeptical as to whether the future…
Although she is initially skeptical of Alicia Florrick's abilities as…
In 1992, the Skeptical Inquirer ran a "Spooky Presidential…
…obstinate Winslow, make them equally skeptical of the new clinic as…
…on Wright's Facebook page were skeptical of his claims, pointing to…
…artist Edvard Perséus, who was skeptical of formal instruction and encouraged…

“sceptical”

He is sceptical, but she wins him over…
The Treasury was sceptical that Chadwick's scheme would ever…
…featured reporter for the Australian sceptical podcast The Skeptic Zone.
Robertson is highly sceptical of this often-repeated assertion, and…
…policy towards France, with Walsingham sceptical of the unpredictable Henry III…
…to gain recognition from his sceptical new boss.
…Detective-Sergeant Carter – is more sceptical.
…grandeur and multiple identities, are sceptical of his claims.
…He describes himself as a sceptical agnostic.
…literary scholars have been highly sceptical about how accurately Old Norse…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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