eligibility

noun

el·​i·​gi·​bil·​i·​ty ˌe-lə-jə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

: the quality or state of being eligible : fitness or suitability to be chosen, selected, or allowed to do something

The applicants must meet all requirements for eligibility.

… should "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, of "Black Sox" infamy, also be granted eligibility for the Hall of Fame?

—David A. Kaplan

Mass mailings go out to low-income areas, and if a letter is returned as undeliverable, the party uses it to challenge that voter's eligibility.

—Sasha Abramsky

Examples of eligibility in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Last week, a Louisiana state court cleared the way for roughly 40 former college athletes to return to college with immediate eligibility, including Wright and Harris, who previously played for Kiffin at Ole Miss. — Chris Vannini, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Presumptive eligibility is a process Medicaid uses to give immediate insurance coverage while the patient's application is being processed. — Jada Robison, Arkansas Online, 8 Sep. 2026

Kiffin is pushing to let the athletes regain their eligibility to play at the college level. — Joel Mathis, TheWeek, 8 Sep. 2026

In clinical environments bound by federal regulations and ethics guidelines, an LLM that hallucinates an endpoint or botches eligibility criteria does not just cause a minor hiccup. — Anshima Raj, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing eligibility

• re-eligibility

Rhymes for eligibility

• acceptability
• accessibility
• adaptability
• admissibility
• advisability
• affordability
• allowability
• amenability
• amiability
• appealability
• applicability
• availability