verisimilitude

noun

veri·​si·​mil·​i·​tude ˌver-ə-sə-ˈmi-lə-ˌtüd 

-ˌtyüd

1

: the quality or state of being verisimilar

2

: something verisimilar

verisimilitudinous

ˌver-ə-sə-ˌmi-lə-ˈtüd-nəs 

-ˈtyüd-;

-ˈtü-də-nəs

-ˈtyü-

adjective

Did you know?

From its roots, verisimilitude means basically "similarity to the truth". Most fiction writers and filmmakers aim at some kind of verisimilitude to give their stories an air of reality. They need not show something actually true, or even very common, but simply something believable. A mass of good details in a play, novel, painting, or film may add verisimilitude. A spy novel without some verisimilitude won't interest many readers, but a fantastical novel may not even attempt to seem true to life.

Synonyms

• literalism
• naturalism
• realism
• representationalism
• verismo

Examples of verisimilitude in a Sentence

the novel's degree of verisimilitude is compromised by 18th-century characters who speak in very 21st-century English

Recent Examples on the Web

Although possessed of more political and celebrity impressions than almost anyone, McKinnon's talents were never as much in verisimilitude as attitude, an unblinking channeling of character and moment that captured an individual as well as any expert impersonator. —Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025

The version that lives in our heads, in perfect verisimilitude. —Yussef Cole, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025

This might be easier to forgive if the verisimilitude of the film’s production design didn’t veer off the track at about exactly the same point. —Anthony Paletta, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Feb. 2025

The draperies of his garment are a feat of verisimilitude, his face the image of otherworldly purity. —airmail.news, 30 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin vērīsimilitūdō, from vērī similis, vērīsimilis "having the appearance of truth" + -tūdō, suffix of abstract nouns — more at verisimilar

First Known Use

circa 1576, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for verisimilitude

• accrued
• allude
• collude
• conclude
• construed
• debuted
• delude
• elude
• endued
• ensued
• eschewed
• etude

Kids Definition

verisimilitude

noun

veri·​si·​mil·​i·​tude ˌver-ə-sə-ˈmil-ə-ˌt(y)üd 

: the appearance of being true or real