What does veracity mean?
Veracity means truthfulness, accuracy, and faithfulness to reality. It is most often applied to statements, reports, testimonies, images, or other representations that can be checked against evidence. In everyday use, the word carries a formal and sometimes emphatic tone: to question someone’s veracity is not merely to find an unimportant error, but to challenge whether their account is genuinely truthful. Veracity can describe either a general quality, as in the veracity of a historian’s work, or the reliability of a particular claim. Although it is related to credibility, veracity focuses more directly on correspondence with truth, while credibility can depend partly on a source’s reputation or authority. The word is useful in discussion of journalism, law, scholarship, and public claims because it names the precise quality that trustworthy representations should possess.
nounThe quality of being true, accurate, and faithful to reality. It is especially used of statements, accounts, reports, or representations whose truthfulness is being assessed.
- The quality of being true, accurate, and free from error.
- The accuracy or credibility of a particular statement, account, or representation.
"The witness was questioned about the veracity of her account of the incident."
"Independent reviewers examined the veracity of the claims made in the report."
"His calm delivery gave an impression of authority, but it did not guarantee the veracity of his story."
The plural is possible but uncommon; veracity is normally used in the singular or as an uncountable quality.
"The seminar debated the differing veracities of the surviving accounts."
Veracity is truth with a pedigree: its Latin ancestor, veritas, simply meant “truth.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does veracity come from?
Veracity entered English in the early 17th century through French véracité, from Latin veritas, meaning “truth.” Latin veritas was derived from verus, meaning “true,” the same root found in words such as verify, verity, and veritable. Its development preserved an emphasis on truth and truthfulness that remains central to the modern word.
How veracity is actually used
Veracity is a formal and sometimes literary word. It is often used in contexts involving evidence, testimony, reporting, or disputed claims, and can imply a more thorough truthfulness than simple accuracy.