discriminabilityn.
/dᵻˌskrɪmᵻnəˈbɪlᵻti/, U.S. /dᵻˌskrɪm(ə)nəˈbɪlᵻdi/ Chiefly Psychology.
1. The quality of being discriminable; ability to be distinguished.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > [noun] > individuality or distinctness > making separate or distinct > ability to be
discriminability1877
differentiability1893
1877 G. Allen Physiol. Æsthetics vi. 119 We have seen wherein these tones differ in intellectual discriminability from other sounds.
1901 E. B. Titchener Exper. Psychol. I. ii. viii. 189 Clearness implies a maximal discriminability or separability from other processes.
1970 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Jan. 81 It was also predicted that increasing the discriminability of the items by incorporating an additional attribute into each item would enhance performance.
2010 Nature 12 Aug. 822/1 Getting to the bottom of speech intelligibility will require understanding..the dimensions of variability that underlie the discriminability of speech sounds.
2. The capacity to discern or distinguish; ability to make distinctions.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun] > capacity for
distinctiveness1667
discretiveness1845
discriminability1880
1880 F. Ryland Student's Handbk. Psychol. & Ethics xii. 28 The superior persistence and discriminability which he ascribes to it [sc. Touch] belong rather to the associated Muscular Feelings.
1959 Jrnl. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 54 776 Separate faculties are involved here, the former being a test of the lady's accuracy of identification, and the latter being a test of her discriminability.
1996 R. Chin & B. Y. Lee Princ. & Pract. Clin. Trial Med. (2008) viii. 161/1 This question has some discriminability. It separates the red-lovers from everyone else.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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