probability

The word “probability” means how likely something is to happen. In plain terms, how likely something is to happen, expressed loosely or as an exact number in math.

“Probability” is pronounced prob-uh-BIHL-ih-tee (/ˌpɹɑb.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/ in IPA).

Here is “probability” used in a sentence: “The probability of rain tomorrow is quite high.”

Words with a similar meaning to “probability” include likelihood, likeliness, probableness and probality.

“Probability” is a noun.

The word “probability” comes from Latin. From Latin probabilitas, "credibility" or "likelihood," from probabilis, "provable" or "credible.".

“Probability” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Probability” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: how likely something is to happen.

Possibility concerns whether something can happen at all, while probability measures how likely it is to happen. Something can be possible yet have a very low probability, such as winning a lottery. In mathematics, probability is given a precise value between 0 and 1.

Probability expresses the chance of an event as a number between 0 and 1, or as a percentage. Odds compare the chance of the event happening with the chance of it not happening, so a probability of 0.25 corresponds to odds of 1 to 3. The two are related but calculated differently.

No. By definition, a probability is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 means an event is impossible and 1 means it is certain. Expressed as a percentage, probability always falls between 0% and 100%.

In everyday English the two words are interchangeable, and dictionaries list likelihood as a synonym of probability. In technical statistics, however, probability describes the chance of an outcome, while likelihood measures how well a hypothesis explains data that has already been observed. Outside statistics, the distinction rarely matters.