applicability

Etymology

It is formed from English applicable + -ity.^[2][3] Johnson likewise derived it from applicable.^[4] The OED compares the noun applicableness,^[2] and Etymonline notes that the earlier word was appliableness, recorded from the 1580s and now obsolete.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being applicable: 1644, in Kenelm Digby's Two Treatises.^[2] Etymonline dates the word, in the sense "capability of being used", to the 1650s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense it had from the start, the quality of being applicable in any of the senses of applicable, and it can also mean an instance of this.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as the quality of being fit to be applied to something, and quoted Digby on the action of cold.^[4]

Timeline

• 1644 – the quality of being applicable.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being applicable; relevance to a case or fitness for a use: The committee doubted the rule's applicability to part-time staff.^[5][2]
2. An instance of being applicable.^[2]

Related words

• applicable
• apply
• application

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster