validity

noun

va·lid·i·ty | \və-ˈli-də-tē,

va-\

Definition of validity

: the quality or state of being valid: such as

a : the state of being acceptable according to the law The validity of the contract is being questioned. What the federal courts have ruled … is that renunciations made behind barbed wire were essentially under duress, and thus of no legal validity.— Roger Daniels

b : the quality of being well-grounded, sound, or correct the validity of an argument/theory Other researchers have questioned the validity of the test results. Later he acknowledged that there was no validity to his report.— David Hiltbrand

Examples of validity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The White House also is assessing whether questions that have been raised about Jackson have validity, officials said. — Author: Seung Min Kim, Lisa Rein, Josh Dawsey, Anchorage Daily News, "Senate to postpone confirmation hearing for Jackson to head Veterans Affairs, White House officials told," 24 Apr. 2018 But none of that has validity for many of these activists and their influencers. — Philip Elliott / Oxon Hill, Time, "'It's a Whole Lot of Nothing.' Trump's CPAC Supporters Don't Want to Talk Russia," 23 Feb. 2018 Circumstances have changed, but the law has remained, and a string of attorneys general in Alabama have offered inconsistent opinions on the validity of the law today, according to The New York Times. — Kaylen Ralph, Teen Vogue, "Alabama Sheriffs Might Not Be Able to Pocket Leftover Prisoner Food Funding Anymore," 12 July 2018 Rigorously Tested: The validity of this concept is pretty much undisputed within the world of M.D.’s, D.O.’s, N.D.’s, and Ph.D.’s. — Sarah Spellings, The Cut, "Goop Will Now Tell You Whether Their Stories Are Rooted in Science," 15 June 2018 As Ars reported in August 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the April 2015 inter partes review (IPR) ruling—a process that allows anyone to challenge a patent’s validity at the US Patent and Trademark Office. — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, "Supreme Court declines to hear “podcasting patent” case, handing win to EFF," 15 May 2018 Police are investigating the validity of a 911 call that led to the detainment of four black boys at a park in Minneapolis. — Jewel Wicker, Teen Vogue, "Viral Video Shows Black Boys Detained at a Park in Minnesota After 911 Caller Claimed They Had Weapons," 13 July 2018 The background to all this is that the nation is more split than ever over the Russia investigation's validity and importance. — Amber Phillips, Washington Post, "Peter Strzok, the symbol of whatever you want him to be in the Russia investigation," 13 July 2018 What helped us was acknowledging the validity and being a platform for the German federation to work on machine learning. — Brian Straus, SI.com, "Germany's World Cup Title Defense Aided By San Jose Earthquakes, Silicon Valley," 12 June 2018

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