relatability

[ri-ley-tuh-bil-i-tee]

noun

1. the quality of being able to easily form social or emotional connections.

   Wit, humor, light-heartedness, genuineness, and relatability are all quality ingredients for a personality pie.

   The coach strikes a note of relatability and resonance with his players, having been in their shoes not so long ago.

2. the quality of being easily connected or linked.

   Infants presented with an image lacking alignment and relatability looked significantly longer at the complete image, suggesting that they saw the first image as two separate pieces.

Word History and Origins

Origin of relatability¹

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

Example Sentences

Throughout her career, Swift has used the internet to engage fans, carefully crafting a sense of relatability.

From BBC

“I’m in the business of human emotion,” Swift says during the show, cunningly nodding to the way she’s commodified her feelings and made a profit on relatability.

From Salon

Then I saw that coolness and that calmness and that relatability that she is so good at presenting.

From Los Angeles Times

Still, the effect reads more like corporate cosplay: branding designed to mimic the internet’s casual eccentricity, yet polished to within an inch of relatability.

From Salon

Times critic Mikael Wood in his review commended the rapper for her relatability — “through her words and delivery ... the songs make you feel like she’s speaking directly to you.”

From Los Angeles Times