viability

noun

vi·​a·​bil·​i·​ty ˌvī-ə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

: the quality or state of being viable: such as

a(1)

: the ability to live, grow, and develop

the viability of seeds under dry conditions

(2)

: the capability of a fetus to survive outside the uterus

fetal viability

b

: the ability to function adequately

The viability of lymphocytes serially harvested from stored bank blood …

—Biological Abstracts

c

: the ability to succeed or be sustained

This year's market turmoil had called into question the viability of the investment-banking business model …

—Wall Street Journal

Getting an informed start now may be essential to future growth and economic viability of the U.S. wine industry.

—Gordon W Murchie

Examples of viability in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To the 73 million Americans whose financial lives depend on the viability of Social Security, those first months were a seesaw of apprehension and rumor. —Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025

Before that, Leblanc held senior roles in design and product development at Isabel Marant, Céline and Sonia Rykiel, and later led womenswear buying at French department store chain Printemps, honing her eye for both creativity and commercial viability. —Wwd Staff, Footwear News, 8 Sep. 2025

Things change, as does the market viability of concepts. —John Tamny, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

The component responsible for this, the divertor, must withstand this incredible onslaught, making its design a critical engineering challenge for the viability of fusion power. —Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 6 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for viability

• affability
• audibility
• bistability
• capability
• changeability
• contractility
• credibility
• culpability
• disability
• disutility
• durability
• fallibility

Medical Definition

viability

noun

vi·​a·​bil·​i·​ty ˌvī-ə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

plural viabilities

: the quality or state of being viable : the ability to live, grow, and develop