conceivabilityn.
/kənˌsiːvəˈbɪlᵻti/, U.S. /kənˌsivəˈbɪlᵻdi/ 1. The quality or condition of being conceivable; the ability to be conceived.Quot. 1788 is from a (Danish) list of English words with their accentuation, with no clear indication of the word's meaning.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun] > quality of being conceivable
conceivablenessc1443
conceptibility1678
cogitabilitya1688
conceivability1788
perceivedness1871
1788 J. C. Tode Övelser i at læse Engelske Ord med Præpositioner 18 Conceivability.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 131 The idea of the former is necessary to the conceivability of the latter.
1859 E. Darwin Let. 23 Nov. in Life & Lett. C. Darwin (1887) II. vi. 234 Beyond all probability or conceivability.
1922 J. Y. Simpson Man & Attainment Immortality i. 16 Within the range of conceivability, if not of probability.
1996 S. J. Gould Life's Grandeur (1997) 2 Both resolutions..are not so radical that they lie outside easy conceivability.
2. Something that can be conceived, comprehended, or imagined; a conceivable event or circumstance.
ΚΠ
1841 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 533/1 Both of these together..form a conceivability. Each of them, singly, is but half a thought.
1893 H. Spencer in Pop. Sci. Monthly May 23 Let us consider closely these several conceivabilities.
1912 Hearst's Mag. June 2460/2 Such a conceivability—however visionary at the moment—suggests a possible solution.
1957 Philos. Q. 7 76 All that we can speak of, it seems, are conceivabilities and logical possibilities.
2011 H. Robinson in Z. Novák & A. Simonyi Truth, Ref. & Realism 256 The difference between real possibilities and mere conceivabilities.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1788