See Also: Likelihood(medicine)
likelihood(dictionary)
likelihood(encyclopedia)
likelihood(dictionary)
likelihood functions(medicine)

likelihood (iou)



likelihood noun. LME.
[from LIKELY + -HOOD.]
Likeness, similarity; an instance of this, a resemblance. LME-L17.
The quality or fact of being likely; an instance of this, a (good) chance. (Foll. by of, to do.) LME.
in all likelihood, in likelihood in all probability, very probably. the likelihood the probable fact.
H. Carpenter There is every likelihood that she knew his books. A. Storr Association with other criminals carried the likelihood of reinforcing..crime as a way of life.
A thing that is likely, a probability; a ground of probable inference, an indication. Freq. in pl. M16-M17.
The quality of offering a prospect of success; promise. Now only as an echo of Shakes. M16.
Shakespeare 1 Henry IV A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.
Statistics. A function of the variable parameters of a family of probability distributions that depends on a fixed set of data and equals the probability of the data, if these are assumed to relate to a population whose distribution has the given parameters. E20.
Comb.: likelihood ratio Statistics the ratio of two likelihoods based on alternative hypotheses about the parameters of a distribution, used in testing these hypotheses.