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Comment by ducttapecrown | Hacker News Reader

A group of people just asked me what verisimilitude was, now I'm excited to come back and tell them about verisimilitudinously.

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> verisimilitudinously

I might say to them that verisimilitudinous is not the usual word (despite the OP). It's the more elegant verisimilar, and thus verisimilarly.

More elegant, but far less fun.

> A group of people just asked me what verisimilitude was

This happens all the time! Glad it’s not just me.

Next up is probably vicissitudes, then

Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.

Nope, heteroscedasticity.

I picked my username so I'd remember that very word...

missed opportunity to put the definition in your bio

Last time I learnt that many new words was from the monologue in 'V for Vendetta'.

Vichyssoise! Sounds like a French sauce.

In Popper's philosophy of science, the concept of verisimilitude plays an important role, or is a technical term.

True! Really?

It's not just similitude. It's veri. Similitude.

I know you're joking but it may confuse people: It's veri (the truth, e.g. verily, verify) + similitude: something that seems like truth, but is not truth - otherwise we'd just call it truth.

>something that seems like truth, but is not truth - otherwise we'd just call it truth.

Not really. Something is verisimilar when it has the appearance of truth, or is likely to be true, regardless of whether it is in fact true. In Spanish, verosímil ('verisimilar') is rather frequently used in contexts in which one hypothesizes about the trueness of claims or statements, especially when it cannot be verified at that very moment, or ever.

Very interesting about Spanish; thanks.

> Something is verisimilar when it has the appearance of truth, or is likely to be true, regardless of whether it is in fact true.

Hmmm ... in English I've never seen the usage "likely to be true". There are many other words for that - probable, likely, etc.

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