verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun: 1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true. 2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real. In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang. --Wilborn Hampton, "'Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father," New York Times, August 1, 1997 For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude. --Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy," New York Times, August 7, 2000 Since his death in 1883, the father of modern communism has attracted a legion of biographers, and most have depicted him as not only extremely stormy--vicious towards his enemies, brusquely domineering even among friends--but as the worst kind of arid intellectual, a Teutonic pedant who inhabited a world of theory and who never hesitated to elevate his abstractions above the concerns of common humanity. The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait. --"Charm itself," Economist, October 16, 1999
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