Prob`a*bil"i*ty , n.;
pl. Probabilities (#). [L.
probabilitas: cf. F.
probabilité.]
1. The quality or state of being probable; appearance of reality or truth; reasonable ground of presumption; likelihood.
Probability is the appearance of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas, by the intervention of proofs whose connection is not constant, but appears for the most part
to be so.
Locke. 2.
That which is or appears probable; anything that has the
appearance of reality or truth.
The whole life of man is a perpetual comparison of evidence and balancing of
probabilities.
Buckminster.
We do not call for
evidence till antecedent probabilities fail.
J. H. Newman. 3. (Math.) Likelihood
of the occurrence of any event in
the doctrine of chances, or the ratio of
the number of favorable chances to the whole
number of chances, favorable and unfavorable. See 1st Chance, n.,
5.
Syn. -- Likeliness; credibleness; likelihood; chance.
Hear it pronounced