Verisimilitude
noun /ˌvɛrɪsɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/ — The quality of seeming true or real.
Definition
The appearance of being true or real; the quality that makes fiction or art feel like it could actually have happened — not truth itself, but its convincing impression.
Beyond the definition
Verisimilitude is the art of being believed. The novelist who achieves it makes you forget you are reading. The actor who achieves it disappears into the role. It is the highest technical achievement of representation — making the audience forget representation is happening.
Origin & history
From Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis (likely, probable) — from verus (true) + similis (like). First used in English in the late 16th century in the context of dramatic and literary realism.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The period drama achieved verisimilitude through its obsessive attention to historical detail.
Great fiction requires verisimilitude — not accuracy, but the feeling of accuracy.
She spoke with such verisimilitude about her supposed childhood in Paris that no one questioned it.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Verisimilitude” when the meaning fits your context: The appearance of being true or real; the quality that makes fiction or art feel like it could actually have happened — not truth itself, but its convincing impression.
Synonyms
realism, plausibility, convincingness, lifelikeness
Antonyms
implausibility, artifice, unreality
Related words
Word in the Wild
Illustrative story: an imagined scene, not a documented event or interview.
A novelist spent three months learning to sail before writing a chapter that took place on a boat. She needed to know what ropes felt like, how the deck moved, what sounds the rigging made in different winds.
None of that research appeared directly in the text. But readers who'd never sailed said the chapter felt real in a way they couldn't explain.
She's asked, regularly, how she made it feel so real. She has never answered that one simply. She just smiles and asks if they've ever been on a boat.
Questions about this word
What does "Verisimilitude" mean?
Verisimilitude is noun meaning: The quality of seeming true or real.. The appearance of being true or real; the quality that makes fiction or art feel like it could actually have happened — not truth itself, but its convincing impression.
Which words express “story with a deeper meaning”?
Verisimilitude — The quality of seeming true or real.
Where does the word "Verisimilitude" come from?
From Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis (likely, probable) — from verus (true) + similis (like). First used in English in the late 16th century in the context of dramatic and literary realism.