validity
- 1The quality of being sound and well founded, or of being genuine rather than false.
The validity of his argument was never seriously in doubt.
Scientists tested the validity of the new theory before publishing their findings.
Similarvalidness
Oppositeinvalidity
Note
The broad sense that the legal, scientific and theological uses all narrow down. English built it from valid plus -ity, alongside Middle French validité and Late Latin validitas. It attaches to claims, arguments and documents alike and sits naturally in the frame the validity of something. It takes a plural, validities, when separate claims are weighed against one another.
- 2The state of having legal force or being officially in effect.
The validity of the contract depends on both parties signing it.
The validity of the visa expired at the end of the year.
Similarlegality, legitimacy, force, lawfulness
Oppositeinvalidity, illegality
- 3The degree to which a measurement reflects the underlying thing it is intended to measure, rather than something else.
Reviewers challenged the study's validity, arguing the questionnaire measured anxiety rather than depression.
Establishing the validity of a new scale requires showing that it tracks the trait it claims to assess.
Note
Its constant companion in measurement is reliability, and the two are easily confused. Reliability asks whether an instrument gives the same result each time. Validity asks whether that result reflects the construct you meant to capture. A scale that always reads five pounds heavy is perfectly reliable and still not valid, so consistency alone never proves validity.
- 4The genuineness of a sacrament (its counting as truly performed) when the required formal conditions are met, as distinct from whether it is effective or properly regular.
Theologians debated the validity of a baptism administered by a layperson during an emergency.
An unworthy minister does not destroy the validity of the sacrament, provided the correct form is observed.
Oppositeinvalidity
Note
Sacramental theology splits one question into three. Validity asks only whether the rite genuinely took place, which turns on the prescribed formal conditions being met. Efficacy asks whether it actually confers grace. Regularity asks whether it followed canonical norms. A sacrament can therefore be valid yet irregular: performed outside the rules, but still real.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from 'valid' plus the suffix '-ity', and borrowed from Middle French 'validité', which came from Late Latin 'validitas'.