applicability

American  

[uh-plik-uh-bil-i-tee] / əˌplɪk əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

Rarely applicableness

noun

1. the fact or quality of applying to a certain situation or range of situations; relevance, appropriateness, or usefulness.

   Each clinician should evaluate the applicability of these guidelines to their own practice and patients.

---

Other Word Forms

• nonapplicability noun
• unapplicability noun

Etymology

Origin of applicability

applic(able) ( def. ) + -ability ( def. )

Explanation

Applicability is the usefulness of something for a particular task. Hammers have great applicability for driving in nails. When something is applicable, it is suited to something or useful for a task. The applicability of a thing refers to how useful it is in a given situation. On a resume, talking about your favorite movie probably would have no applicability: it's pointless. A plunger has great applicability in a bathroom, but no applicability anywhere else. You can think of applicability as usefulness plus timeliness. If something has applicability, it will come in handy at the moment it is needed.

Example Sentences

He reinterprets even Lincoln’s best-known private and public writings with unerring applicability and deploys a surprising number of observations that contemporaries shared with each other about Lincoln—tidbits that have largely escaped notice by other scholars.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

Finnish Customs said it was still investigating "the applicability of EU sanctions legislation to this case."

From Barron's • Jan. 1, 2026

Estados Unidos Mexicanos thwart case-by-case determination of PLCAA’s applicability, a process that promotes careful explication of the law.

From Slate • Jun. 6, 2025

Entirely new rules are dealt with under a similar process known as an applicability motion.

From BBC • Jan. 20, 2025

In biology there is a principle of powerful if imperfect applicability called recapitulation: in our individual embryonic development we retrace the evolutionary history of the species.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• appropriateness