verisimilitude love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality of appearing to be true or real. synonym: truth.
  • noun Something that has the appearance of being true or real.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality or state of being verisimilar; the appearance of truth; probability; likelihood: as, the verisimilitude of a story.
  • noun That which is verisimilar; that which has the appearance of a verity or fact.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being verisimilar; the appearance of truth; probability; likelihood.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the property of seeming true, of resembling reality; resemblance to reality, realism
  • noun a statement which merely appears to be true

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin vērīsimilitūdō, from vērīsimilis, verisimilar; see verisimilar.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin vērīsimilitūdō ("likeness to truth"), more correctly written separately as vērī similitūdō; from vērī, genitive singular of vērus ("true, real"), + similitūdō ("likeness, resemblance").

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Examples

  • In science fiction this verisimilitude is achieved by using explanations, (or simply terms and phrases that hint of explanations) that fit into the scientific world-view: 'hyperspace' is a valid setting for a science fiction scene, but 'heaven' is not.

    Putting SciFi in its place 2006

  • Where the story of the Guardians lacks in verisimilitude and its painfully similarity to the plot of Avatar (the plight of the Ga'Hoole tree dwellers cum Na'vi tree of life), it makes up for in being a fulfilling excuse for 3-D.

    Kathleen Osborn: The Winged Warriors of Ga'Hoole: Owl Movie Is a Sobering Elixir in 3-D Kathleen Osborn 2010

  • The effectiveness lies in verisimilitude, and this is a vital point.

    Some Thoughts, Part Five – Marketing « The Graveyard 2010

  • The effectiveness lies in verisimilitude, and this is a vital point.

    2010 April « The Graveyard 2010

  • Where the story of the Guardians lacks in verisimilitude and its painfully similarity to the plot of Avatar (the plight of the Ga'Hoole tree dwellers cum Na'vi tree of life), it makes up for in being a fulfilling excuse for 3-D.

    Kathleen Osborn: The Winged Warriors of Ga'Hoole: Owl Movie Is a Sobering Elixir in 3-D Kathleen Osborn 2010

  • "Negotiation and solidarity are the twin subjects of this quietly impressive docudrama, and Mungiu's commitment to verisimilitude is so scrupulous that he deliberately introduces the equivalent of Chekhov's famed gun without the slightest intention of providing a final-act payoff."

    GreenCine Daily: Cannes. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. 2007

  • Thirdly, verisimilitude is a very slippery concept philosophically speaking anyway.

    The Aesthetics of Fat Hal Duncan 2007

  • Firstly, verisimilitude is a scientific value, one deeply embedded in the philosophy of science and crudely defined for SF as the desire to write a piece where everything is technically correct from the standpoint of contemporary scientific theory.

    The Aesthetics of Fat Hal Duncan 2007

  • You have to admire any woman who uses the word verisimilitude correctly, and I'm not just saying that because she reads the blog and I want to have sex with her.

    The Thunder Run 2008

  • In my experience, the key feature here is "verisimilitude"--the illusion of truth.

    When do Themes Collide? 2004

Comments

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  • When this word entered the annals of philosophy over half a century ago, no one would have anticipated that the word would come to describe a chasm captivating a generation of tv watchers.

    March 1, 2007

  • I personally like my list better than Letterman's namby-pamby thing.

    April 20, 2007

  • Of course, the most famous usage of it in literature:

    "Corroborative detail intended to provide artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."

    -- W.S. Gilbert, "The Mikado"

    July 4, 2008

  • I love the Teenage Fanclub song by the same name:

    "I don't need an attitude

    Rebellion is a platitude

    I only hope the verse is good

    I hate verisimilitude"

    January 10, 2009

  • I always wonder if there is some kind of word-formation technique corresponding to this word. I'll be verihappy if there is~

    May 17, 2009

  • "I carried it behind the screen that concealed the hair-washing area, and wiped at a perfectly clean area just for verisimilitude..." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

    February 5, 2011

  • Curent day politicians are good at presenting facts which are verisimilitude.

    February 18, 2013

  • From pp. 57-58 of Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time to Keep Silence":

    The Trappist life...by any normal criterion, is sombre and stern. But legend...has smothered its stark outlines with ivy-leaves of a still more baleful tinct. According to a rumor widespread in France, Trappist monks greet each other daily with the words Frère il faut mourir, and a mythical agendum in the duties of a monk is the digging of his own tomb, a few spadefuls a day... Many aspects of Trappist life lend additional verisimilitude.

    January 21, 2014