plausibility

noun plau·si·bil·i·ty \ ˌplȯ-zə-ˈbi-lə-tē \

Definition of plausibility

plural plausibilities

1 :the quality or state of being plausible

2 :something plausible

Recent Examples of plausibility from the Web

Overall, the results could have potential plausibility, but age does seem to take a grand toll.

— dr. manny alvarez, Fox News, "Do online age predictors really work?," 11 July 2017
So little is known of Shakespeare himself — cities of supposition have been built on a foundation of crumbs — that there is a lot of room to go with interpretation that still falls within the range of plausibility, not to say scholarly approval.

— robert lloyd, latimes.com, "'Will' examines Shakespeare's younger years," 9 July 2017
But the idea that Sean Spicer has been body-shamed out of the spotlight still holds a patina of plausibility.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Bannon: Press Briefings Were Moved Off Camera Because ‘Sean Got Fatter’," 20 June 2017
Most historical biographies on film behave as tidy museum pieces, however lifelessly, while others strive for modernity at the expense of plausibility.

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "Director Terence Davies finds a soul mate in Emily Dickinson," 18 May 2017
Schilling accepts the plausibility that white people are persecuted, but not that anyone would yell the n-word from the anonymity of ballpark seats, nestled among thousands, while Jones has his back turned.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Curt Schilling Is Wypipo," 17 May 2017
Expecting plausibility from dystopian fiction is like expecting haute cuisine from a highway service area.

— megan mcardle, Twin Cities, "Megan McArdle: No, ’The Handmaid’s Tale’ series is not shockingly timely," 27 Apr. 2017
The blank, naturalistic plausibility of, say, a splash of river water on a wrist is enough—minus a block of text in explanatory art-catalogue prose—to change a mind forever.

— vinson cunningham, The New Yorker, "Watching a Fish Gasp for Air in Jonathas de Andrade’s “O Peixe”," 22 Mar. 2017
The form was strewn with pitfalls, among them a tendency to sermonize, a veering into allegory and a lack of plausibility.

— margaret atwood, New York Times, "Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in the Age of Trump," 10 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plausibility.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.