verisimilitude

English

WOTD – 16 April 2006

Etymology

From Middle French vérisimilitude, from Latin vērīsimilitūdō (“likeness to truth”), more correctly written separately as vērī similitūdō; from vērī, genitive singular of vērus (“true, real”), + similitūdō (“likeness, resemblance”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɛɹɪsɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

Noun

verisimilitude (countable and uncountable, plural verisimilitudes)

1. The property of seeming true, of resembling reality; resemblance to reality, realism.
2. A statement which merely appears to be true.
3. (fiction) Faithfulness to its own rules; internal cohesion.

Quotations

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:verisimilitude.

Related terms

• verisimilitudinous
• verisimilar
• verisimilarity
• truthiness

Translations

property of seeming true

• Dutch: waarschijnlijkheid (nl)
• Esperanto: verosimila
• Finnish: todellisuuden mukaisuus
• French: verisimilitude (fr) f
• Georgian: დამაჯერებლობა (damaǯerebloba)
• German: Wahrhaftigkeit (de) f, Wahrheitsnähe f
• Latin: verisimilitudo f

• Norwegian: sannhetsnærhet c
• Portuguese: verossimilhança (pt) f
• Romanian: verosimilitate (ro) f, verosimilitudine (ro) f
• Russian: правдоподо́бие (ru) n (pravdopodóbije)
• Spanish: verosimilitud (es) f, verismo m

statement which merely appears to be true

• Dutch: schijnwaarheid, gelijkenis met de werkelijkheid

• Finnish: näennäistotuus

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مُحَاكَاة‎ (muḥākāh)
• French: ^{(please verify)} verisimilitude (fr) f
• German: ^{(please verify)} Wahrheitsnähe, ^{(please verify)} Wahrheitsähnlichkeit
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} virkelighetsnærhet m or f, ^{(please verify)} virkelighetstroskap m

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} вероватност f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} verovatnost (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} vjerovatnost f

See also

• probability

Further reading

• verisimilitude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• verisimilitude in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Etymology

From Latin vērīsimilitūdō (“likeness to truth”), more correctly written separately as vērī similitūdō; from vērī, genitive singular of vērus (“true, real”), + similis (“like, resembling, similar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /və.ʁi.si.mi.li.tyd/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

verisimilitude f (plural verisimilitudes)

1. verisimilitude