Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being viable; capability of living; specifically, capability in the fetus of continued existence after removal from the womb.
  • noun In natural history, the ability to live in certain conditions of environment, climatic, geographical, etc.: as, the viability of fish in the water; the viability of an imported plant or animal in a country.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being viable.
  • noun (Law) The capacity of living after birth.
  • noun The capacity of living, or being distributed, over wide geographical limits.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the property of being viable; the ability to live or to succeed

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (of living things) capable of normal growth and development
  • noun capable of being done in a practical and useful way

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

viable + -ity

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Examples

  • The other candidates including John Edwards don't appear to have received what they call viability, 15 percent of the 164 people who have gathered in this one caucus.

    CNN Transcript Jan 19, 2008 2008

  • Losing Orton is about losing long-term viability, which is why I like John's question so much last night.

    Mile High Report BShrout 2010

  • "This is part of the political trade-off and this is usually equated with what we call the viability of social peace and political concord," Charles Chartouni of Georgetown University told Al Jazeera.

    AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE) 2009

  • "This is part of the political trade-off and this is usually equated with what we call the viability of social peace and political concord," Charles Chartouni of Georgetown University told Al Jazeera.

    unknown title 2009

  • With traditional pension plans being phased out and concerns mounting over the long-term viability of Social Security, Americans increasingly view 401k accounts as crucial.

    Retirement Plans Make Comeback, With Limits Kelly Greene 2011

  • "It's good to know that's a platform that has some long term viability to it," said Mr. Cervone, who sees "no reason to switch at this point in time" from H-P.

    Moving Forward At H-P Ben Worthen 2011

  • One of the biggest risks to Hovnanian's long-term viability is the company's dwindling cash supply.

    Hovnanian Narrows Loss John Kell 2011

  • More important for its long-term viability, though, is that it's twice as fun.

    Wonkbook: Democrats divided on filibuster reform; Obama's CoS shortlist; Fed staying the course Ezra Klein 2011

  • Mike Huckabee's political viability is coming to an end.

    Huckabee defends decision to commute Washington police shooting suspect 2009

  • Elsewhere, shares of Singapore Airlines slipped 0.4% as investors digested the carrier's plan to establish a long-haul no frills airline, even though some analysts were optimistic on its long-term viability.

    Asian Shares Mostly Higher Shri Navaratnam 2011

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