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.

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Other Word Forms

• nonapplicability noun
• unapplicability noun

Etymology

Origin of applicability

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

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

By emphasizing observable symptoms and illness trajectories rather than culturally bound categories, dimensional approaches offer universal applicability while respecting local contexts and experiences.

From Science Daily • Oct. 14, 2025

As the court explained, “that language is expansive and unqualified, confirming applicability to every such person.”

From Slate • Jul. 9, 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