verisimilitude

[ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood]

See more synonyms for verisimilitude on Thesaurus.com

noun

the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability: The play lacked verisimilitude.
something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth.

Origin of verisimilitude

1595–1605; < Latin vērīsimilitūdō, equivalent to vērī (genitive singular of vērum truth) + similitūdō similitude

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for verisimilitude

plausibility, realism, semblance, likeness, similarity, color, credibility, show, genuineness, resemblance, likeliness

Examples from the Web for verisimilitude

Contemporary Examples of verisimilitude

And the conceit of total artifice deprives us of what Tolstoy is best at: marrying artifice with verisimilitude.
‘The Trial’ & More Top Film Adaptations of Literary Classics (VIDEO)
Jimmy So
November 24, 2012

Historical Examples of verisimilitude

His account of the origin of the sexes has the greatest (comic) probability and verisimilitude.
Symposium
Plato
Now as to the verisimilitude, the miraculousness, and the fact, of this medicinal oil.
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
John Henry Cardinal Newman
For the sake of verisimilitude he laid the scene in his own barracks.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 150, February 2, 1916
Various
But we have not yet done with the points of verisimilitude in our story.
The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2)
John Fiske.
Besides it will go far to assist the verisimilitude of your travels.
Olla Podrida
Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

British Dictionary definitions for verisimilitude

verisimilitude

noun

the appearance or semblance of truth or reality; quality of seeming true
something that merely seems to be true or real, such as a doubtful statement

Word Origin for verisimilitude

C17: from Latin vērisimilitūdō, from vērus true + similitūdō similitude

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for verisimilitude

c.1600, from French verisimilitude (1540s), from Latin verisimilitudo "likeness to truth," from veri, genitive of verum, neuter of verus "true" (see very) + similis "like, similar" (see similar).