validity
Americannoun
-
the state or quality of being valid.
to question the validity of the argument.
-
legal soundness or force.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of validity
First recorded in 1540–50; from Late Latin validitās; equivalent to valid + -ity
Explanation
When you test something's validity, you see if it holds true. Are these really the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? You might enjoy testing the validity of this statement. The noun validity means genuine or authentic, but it also has a legal meaning: having legal force. Your family asked the judge to determine the validity of your grandfather's will because they weren't sure he was legally allowed to leave all his worldly goods to "the little green men from Mars." Related words include the adjective "valid" and its antonym "invalid," as well as the verb "validate."
Vocabulary lists containing validity
"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Marbury v. Madison (1803)
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The validity of the social media posts are under scrutiny.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
Using a different legal framework, he swiftly announced a 10 percent global duty with a validity period of 150 days that also applies to Chinese goods.
From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026
In 2020, he proposed systems in which people could pay, using cryptocurrency, to “vote” on the validity of a claim, effectively turning factual disputes into speculative assets.
From Salon • Apr. 23, 2026
Some of his studies have been flagged with formal editorial warnings due to the concerns about the validity of the data.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
People often take the abundance and prominence of reports on psychics and parapsychological matters to be a kind of evidence of their validity.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
