What does feasibility mean?
Feasibility is the quality of being achievable in practice — a measure of whether something can realistically be done given available time, money, technology, and other constraints. The word belongs largely to formal and professional contexts: engineers evaluate technical feasibility, economists weigh financial feasibility, and planners commission feasibility studies before any large project wins approval. To call something feasible is not merely to say it is possible in principle, but that it stands up to practical scrutiny; a plan may be physically possible yet fail the test of feasibility because it costs too much or takes too long. Derived from the same Latin root as 'feasible', the noun entered English by way of French notions of what can be done or accomplished. Its everyday usefulness lies in this sober, evaluative character: it invites us to test ambition against reality, making it an essential term wherever ideas must prove themselves before resources are committed.
nounThe state or degree to which something is possible, practical, or realistically achievable, especially in light of cost, resources, and circumstances.
- The quality of being achievable or practicable under real-world conditions.
- (In engineering and business) a formal assessment of whether a proposed project is viable.
"Before committing funds, the board commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of the proposed rail link."
"Engineers questioned the feasibility of completing the bridge before winter."
"The startup's pitch deck included a thorough feasibility analysis of its target market."
Feasibility functions almost exclusively as an uncountable noun; plural forms are vanishingly rare and generally avoided in formal writing.
"The consultants compared the feasibilities of several competing site designs."
Every skyscraper, moonshot, and startup pitch has passed through one humble gate first: a feasibility study.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of feasibility
Feasibility derives from the Latin verb 'facere', meaning 'to do' or 'to make', which spawned a vast family of English words including fact, manufacture, and perfect. The immediate ancestor is the adjective 'feasible', borrowed in the 15th century from Old French 'faisable', meaning 'doable', itself formed on 'fais-', the stem of 'faire' ('to do'). The noun 'feasibility' developed from this adjective, with related legal terms such as 'feasance', 'malfeasance', and 'defeasance' tracing back to the same Latin source.
Related word forms
How feasibility is actually used
Feasibility is an uncountable abstract noun used chiefly in formal, professional, and academic registers — business, engineering, government planning. It rarely appears in casual conversation, where speakers prefer phrases like "doable" or "can it be done." It is almost always discussed in terms of degree (high or low feasibility) rather than as an absolute.
Easily confused with feasibility
Feasibility concerns whether something can be done at all given practical constraints, while probability concerns how likely it is to happen.