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Viable (adjective) has three explicit or implicit meanings. The first two are related to living organisms -
- 1. to be viable is to be capable of independent life, as in living outside the mother's womb (viable fetus).[1]
- 2. also to be viable is having the capacity to grow or develop (viable seeds or viable eggs).[1]
- 3 The third meaning may be used in a different context, but can also be related to living organisms. It can be a concept (example: possible choices available), related to a place (example: plausible and acceptable residence), or related to an object (example: an engineered material).[1] Therefore viable also means the following:
- (a) capable of working, functioning, or developing adequately ( a complex artificial material)
- (b) an entity which is capable of existence along with growth and development, as an independent unit. (viable community within a town)
- (c) 1. having a reasonable chance of succeeding (a viable candidate) 2. financially sustainable (a viable enterprise)[1]
Viability (noun) means in general "capacity for survival" and is more specifically used to mean a capacity for living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions. The word is specially used in the following contexts:
- viability in pregnancy refers to either:
- Viability (fetal), the ability of a fetus to survive outside the uterus without artificial support. The limit of viability is the point at which 50% of delivered babies would survive, which is currently at 24 weeks.
- an early stage pregnancy that has a chance of reaching full development-term and a live birth (as opposed to, for example, an ectopic pregnancy)
- viability in environmental conservation indicates the ability of a conservation target to persist for many generations or over long time periods.
- viability of cells and tissues in experimental biology refers to the extent to which those cells and tissues are living. Various testing methods can be used to determine cellular viability, including the MTT assay, CASY cell counting technology, and using a Coulter counter.
- viability in natural selection denotes the fraction of individuals that survive to a given age.
- viability in economic development indicates the ability of benefits to cover costs in development projects.