verisimilituden.
/ˌvɛrᵻsᵻˈmɪlᵻtjuːd/, /ˌvɛrᵻsᵻˈmɪlᵻtʃuːd/, U.S. /ˌvɛrəsəˈmɪləˌt(j)ud/ 1.
a. The fact or quality of being verisimilar; the appearance of being true or real; likeness or resemblance to truth, reality, or fact; probability.In very frequent use from c1850.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [noun] > likeness to truth
truthlikenessa1586
verisimilitude1603
verisimility1646
reality1657
vraisemblance1802
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > [noun] > judged by closeness to truth
similitudec1450
appearance?1531
semblance1548
probableness1561
resemblance1561
verisimilitude1603
verisimility1646
plausibility1649
vraisemblance1802
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1031 If we wil use the rule of probability and verisimilitude.
1654 R. Flecknoe Ten Years Trav. 30 Truth has no greater Enemy than verisimilitude and likelihood.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing 64 Verisimilitude and Opinion are an easie purchase; and these counterfeits are all the Vulgars treasure.
1727 W. Warburton Crit. & Philos. Enq. Causes Prodigies & Miracles i. 7 Was it but Falshood's Mask of Veri-Similitude that we doated after.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind vi. §19 His conjectures have more verisimilitude than dogmatic theories.
1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 154 A depth of tenderness in her large black eyes..gave a great verisimilitude to her representation of the lovelorn damsel.
1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. vii. 221 They are nothing more to me than..judgments on the verisimilitude of intellectual views, not the possession and enjoyment of truths.
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker i. 17 To add a spice of verisimilitude, ‘college paper’..had an actual marketable value.
b. esp. Of statements, narrative, etc.
ΚΠ
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes Pref. 5 The Plot,..which is nothing indeed but such œconomy, or disposition of the fable as may stand best with verisimilitude and decorum.
1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady i. vi. 48 If what I have advanc'd..have any Truth or Verisimilitude.
1777 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. II. v. 60 They would appear..so extravagant, as to go far beyond the bounds of that veri~similitude which must be preserved even in fictitious narration.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. (1882) xvii. 165 The characters..have all the verisimilitude and representative quality that the purposes of poetry can require.
1858 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire VI. lv. 311 We must accept in the main the verisimilitude of the picture they have left us of this arch-tyrant.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 422 The traditional form was required in order to give verisimilitude to the myth.
2. A statement, etc., which has the mere appearance or show of being true or in accordance with fact; an apparent truth.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [noun] > apparent truth
verisimilitude1783
1783 Ld. Hailes Disquis. Antiq. Christian Church iv. 141 Perhaps, the author had no farther view, than to state the Academical verisimilitudes on each side of the controversy.
1819 J. Lawrence in Monthly Mag. Sept. 112/1 The advantages of sophistry are infinitely beyond those of real truth; because a fortunate and well-sounding verisimilitude is so adapted to the comprehension of nine-tenths of mankind.
1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. Sept. 284/2 Henceforth let no one receive the narratives of Elia for true records! They are, in truth, but shadows of fact—verisimilitudes, not verities.
1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. (1860) vii. 128 I felt..that there was more truth in the verisimilitudes of fiction than in the assumptions of history.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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