probablenessn.

c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 31 (MED) If he haue of þis seid..questioun eny certeynte, liklihode, or probabilnes, þat he helde it forþ wiþoute eny hidyng.

1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips xli. 269 He semeth to reason probably..But this probablenes is of vncleane fleshe, not of God.

1649 H. Hammond Vindic. Addresse 4 Nor shall I..fear the probablenesse of his unprov'd groundlesse supposition.

1681 J. Owen Φρονημα του Πνευματος ii. xix. 302 We must see a Goodness and Probableness in Spiritual things absolutely, so as that we may fix our Affections on them in a due manner.

1844 Catholic World Sept. 856 From the purely artistic point of view the probableness of an objectionable feature is no excuse for introducing it in a story when it is not intended to point a moral thereby.

c1875 J. Miller Metaphysics v. xiii. 398 The only gain is, a higher probableness. For, protoplasm left to itself, and protoplasm sustained forever, will look exactly the same.

1925 E. Wharton Writing of Fiction v. 173 At such moments, Proust's characters invariably lose their probableness and begin to stumble through their parts.

1986 Ethnohist. 33 306 Elevating possibleness to probableness, or even realness, is the proper métier of historians.