different between probability vs plausibility

English

Etymology

From Middle French probabilité, from Latin prob?bilit?s (“probability, credibility”), from prob?bilis (“probable, credible”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??b??b?l?ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??b??b?l??i/
• Hyphenation: prob?a?bil?i?ty
• Rhymes: -?l?ti

Noun

Wikibooks

probability (plural probabilities)

1. The state of being probable; likelihood.
2. An event that is likely to occur.
3. The relative likelihood of an event happening.
4. (mathematics) A number, between 0 and 1, expressing the precise likelihood of an event happening.

Derived terms

Related terms

• probable

Translations

See also

• odds
• possibility
• verisimilitude
• credence

Further reading

• probability at OneLook Dictionary Search
• probability in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• probability in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Latin plausibilis +? -ty.

Noun

plausibility (countable and uncountable, plural plausibilities)

1. (obsolete) The quality of deserving applause, praiseworthiness; something worthy of praise. [16th–17th c.]
   • 1668, David Lloyd, Memories of the Lives, Actions, Sufferings & Deaths of Those Noble, Reverend, and Excellent Personages that Suffered […] for the Protestant Religion

     integrity, fidelity, and other gracious plausibilities

2. (now rare) The appearance of truth, especially when deceptive; speciousness. [from 17th c.]
   • 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men:

     Plausibility, I know, can only be unmasked by shewing the absurdities it glosses over, and the simple truths it involves with specious errors.

3. A plausible statement, argument etc. [from 17th c.]
   • 1868, Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book

     Striking me dumb, and helping her to speak,
     Tell her own story her own way, and turn
     My plausibility to nothingness!

4. (now in more positive sense) The fact of being believable; believability, credibility. [from 18th c.]

Derived terms

• implausibility

Translations

References

• plausibility in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• plausibility in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.