IMPROBABILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does improbability mean? 

• IMPROBABILITY (noun)
  The noun IMPROBABILITY has 1 sense:

1. the quality of being improbable

  Familiarity information: IMPROBABILITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPROBABILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being improbable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

improbability; improbableness

Context example:

the improbability of such rare coincidences

Hypernyms ("improbability" is a kind of...):

precariousness; uncertainness; uncertainty (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "improbability"):

unlikelihood; unlikeliness (the improbability of a specified outcome)

Antonym:

probability (the quality of being probable; a probable event or the most probable event)

Derivation:

improbable (not likely to be true or to occur or to have occurred)

 Context examples 

What a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was!

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But at any rate I have shown, have I not, that there is a certain element of improbability about the lady’s story?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)