predictability
Americannoun
-
consistent repetition of a state, course of action, behavior, or the like, making it possible to know in advance what to expect.
The predictability of their daily lives was both comforting and boring.
-
the quality of being regarded as likely to happen, as behavior or an event.
We were disheartened by the utter predictability of war.
Etymology
Origin of predictability
First recorded in 1850–55; predict(able) ( def. ) + -ability ( def. )
Explanation
Children with autism usually benefit from predictability in their schedules, where they can expect the same thing to happen routinely every day. Predictability has only one meaning, but it can be considered good or bad depending on the context. The predictability of sunrise and sunset is extremely helpful. If a mystery novel, however, suffers from predictability, there probably won't be very much "mystery" involved after all, and no one will want to read it.
Vocabulary lists containing predictability
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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The House No One Sees
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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.
Predictability shifts the advantage to advisors willing to engineer outcomes across decades instead of managing around April 15.
From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026
"Predictability on taxation, on regulation and on planning is super helpful for the investment that goes into infrastructure like ours, which is the digital backbone of the country."
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2025
In prior work, scientists with Penn State's Center for Advanced Data Assimilation and Predictability Techniques assimilated infrared brightness temperature data from the U.S.
From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024
Predictability doesn’t scare the screenwriters Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern, who collaborated previously as writers of “Booksmart.”
From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2023
Predictability, under these conditions, is earned; each of life's problematic questions had been meticulously solved, carving daily the beliefs which became the man.
From Through these Eyes The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancer by Isaacson, Lauren Ann
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.
