1. One who maintains that certainty is impossible, and that probability
alone is to govern our faith and actions.
2. (Casuistry) One who maintains that a man may do that which has a
probability of being right, or which is inculcated by teachers of
authority, although other opinions may seem to him still more probable.
Prob`a*bil"i*ty, n.; pl. Probabilities (#). [L. probabilitas: cf. F.
probabilitÈ.]
1. The quality or state of being probable; appearance of reality or
truth; reasonable ground of presumption; likelihood.
Probability is the appearance of the agreement or disagreement of
two ideas, by the intervention of proofs whose connection is not
constant, but appears for the most part to be so.
Locke.
2. That which is or appears probable; anything that has the appearance
of reality or truth.
The whole life of man is a perpetual comparison of evidence and
balancing of probabilities.
Buckminster.
We do not call for evidence till antecedent probabilities fail.
J. H. Newman.
3. (Math.) Likelihood of the occurrence of any event in the doctrine of
chances, or the ratio of the number of favorable chances to the whole
number of chances, favorable and unfavorable. See 1st Chance, n., 5.
Syn. -- Likeliness; credibleness; likelihood; chance.
Prob"a*ble (?), a. [L. probabilis, fr. probare to try, approve, prove:
cf. F. probable. See Prove, and cf. Provable.]