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PROBABILITY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of being probable; a probable event or the most probable event
Example:
going by past experience there was a high probability that the visitors were lost
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("probability" is a kind of...):
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "probability"):
likelihood; likeliness (the probability of a specified outcome)
Antonym:
improbability (the quality of being improbable)
Derivation:
probabilistic (of or relating to or based on probability)
probable (apparently destined)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible
Example:
if that phone call is for me, chances are it's my wife
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("probability" is a kind of...):
amount; measure; quantity (how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "probability"):
conditional probability; contingent probability (the probability that an event will occur given that one or more other events have occurred)
cross section ((physics) the probability that a particular interaction (as capture or ionization) will take place between particles; measured in barns)
exceedance ((geology) the probability that an earthquake will generate a level of ground motion that exceeds a specified reference level during a given exposure time)
fair chance; sporting chance (a reasonable probability of success)
fat chance; slim chance (little or no chance of success)
joint probability (the probability of two events occurring together)
risk; risk of exposure (the probability of being exposed to an infectious agent)
risk; risk of infection (the probability of becoming infected given that exposure to an infectious agent has occurred)
Derivation:
probabilistic (of or relating to or based on probability)
probable (likely but not certain to be or become true or real)
Context examples:
A continuous probability density distribution which models resonance behavior.
(Cauchy Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)
The results suggest that each of the four dominant spring ENSO variations is linked to distinct and significant U.S. regional patterns of outbreak probability.
(Ocean temperatures may hold key to predicting tornado outbreaks, NOAA)
Something expected, especially the value (e.g. an amount, or length of time) or probability of occurrence for a specific event based on statistical calculations.
(Expectancy, NCI Thesaurus)
A synapse in which the firing of the presynaptic cell increases the probability of firing of the postsynaptic cell.
(Excitatory Synapse, NCI Thesaurus)
Specifically, they looked for variants with a high probability of being responsible for variations in gene expression among people with and without AMD.
(New study about genes linked to age-related macular degeneration, National Institutes of Health)
A discrete, statistical distribution which is described by the probability density function: p(k) = p (1-p)^(k-1).
(Geometric Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)
The probability of his ever doing so, appeared to me, when I saw him, to be very small.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The probability that an individual is not affected with the condition when a negative test result is observed.
(Negative Predictive Value of Diagnostic Test, NCI Thesaurus)
Most earnestly did she labour to prove the probability of error, and seek to clear the one without involving the other.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Therefore showing a work to various others increases the probability that the weakness will be identified and fixed.
(Peer Review, NCI Thesaurus)
