nonverifiability
|non-ver-i-fi-a-bi-li-ty|
🇺🇸
/ˌnɑnˌvɛrɪfəˈbɪlɪti/
🇬🇧
/ˌnɒnˌvɛrɪfəˈbɪlɪti/
cannot be proven
Etymology
'nonverifiability' originates from English, specifically the prefix 'non-' and the word 'verifiability', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'verifiability' comes from 'verify' (from Latin roots) meaning 'to make or show true.'
'nonverifiability' changed from the combination of the negative prefix 'non-' + the noun 'verifiability'. 'Verify' comes into English via Old French 'verifier' (from Latin elements 'verus' meaning 'true' and 'facere' meaning 'to make/do'), through Middle English forms such as 'verifien' and modernized to 'verify'; 'verifiability' developed with the suffix '-ability', and 'nonverifiability' is the negative formation of that noun.
Initially the roots conveyed 'to make/show true'; over time 'verify' came to mean 'establish truth or accuracy by evidence or proof', and 'nonverifiability' evolved to mean 'not capable of being established as true or confirmed by evidence.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the quality or state of being not verifiable; unable to be confirmed, proven, or supported by evidence or observation.
The nonverifiability of his hypothesis made it difficult for other researchers to accept his conclusions.
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Noun 2
in philosophy, science, or law, the characteristic of a claim or proposition that cannot be empirically tested or corroborated by available methods or evidence.
Philosophers debated the nonverifiability of metaphysical statements that make no testable predictions.
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Last updated: 2025/09/26 12:56