Standard Lemma guide

reliability

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IY0 L AY2 AH0 B IH1 L AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being reliable, dependable, or trustworthy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dependability

Antonyms: unreliability

2

noun

Meaning 2

the ability to measure the same thing consistently (of a measurement indicating the degree to which the measure is consistent); that is, repeated measurements would give the same result (See also validity).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: education

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

measurable time of work before failure

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the quality of being dependable or reliable

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dependability, dependableness, reliableness

Antonyms: unreliability

Broader terms: responsibility, responsibleness

Narrower terms: solidity, solidness, infallibility, reproducibility, duplicability

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English rely Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English reliable Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English reliability From reliable + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

50 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: etibarlılıq — quality of being reliable
  • Azerbaijani: inamlılıq — quality of being reliable
  • Belarusian: надзе́йнасць (nadzjéjnascʹ) — quality of being reliable
  • Bulgarian: наде́ждност (nadéždnost) — quality of being reliable
  • Catalan: fiabilitat — quality of being reliable
  • Czech: spolehlivost — quality of being reliable
  • Dutch: betrouwbaarheid — quality of being reliable
  • Esperanto: fidindeco — quality of being reliable
  • Finnish: luotettavuus — quality of being reliable
  • French: fiabilité — quality of being reliable
  • Galician: fiabilidade — quality of being reliable
  • German: Zuverlässigkeit — quality of being reliable
  • Greek: αξιοπιστία (axiopistía) — quality of being reliable
  • Indonesian: reliabilitas — quality of being reliable
  • Indonesian: keterandalan — quality of being reliable
  • Indonesian: keandalan — quality of being reliable
  • Irish: dílseacht — quality of being reliable
  • Italian: affidabilità — quality of being reliable
  • Italian: attendibilità — quality of being reliable
  • Latin: firmitas — quality of being reliable
  • Latin: firmitudo — quality of being reliable
  • Malay: kebolehpercayaan — quality of being reliable
  • Malay: keandalan — quality of being reliable
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tilforlatelighet — quality of being reliable
  • Norwegian Bokmål: pålitelighet — quality of being reliable
  • Norwegian Bokmål: reliabilitet — quality of being reliable
  • Polish: niezawodność — quality of being reliable
  • Portuguese: confiabilidade — quality of being reliable
  • Romanian: fiabilitate — quality of being reliable
  • Russian: надёжность (nadjóžnostʹ) — quality of being reliable
  • Spanish: fiabilidad — quality of being reliable
  • Swedish: trovärdighet — quality of being reliable
  • Tagalog: pagkamapanghahawakan — quality of being reliable
  • Turkish: güvenilirlik — quality of being reliable
  • Ottoman Turkish: امانت (emânet) — quality of being reliable
  • Ukrainian: наді́йність (nadíjnistʹ) — quality of being reliable
  • Belarusian: дакла́днасць (dakládnascʹ) — quality of a measurement
  • Dutch: betrouwbaarheid — quality of a measurement
  • French: fiabilité — quality of a measurement
  • German: Belastbarkeit — quality of a measurement
  • Indonesian: reliabilitas — quality of a measurement
  • Latin: firmitas — quality of a measurement
  • Latin: firmitudo — quality of a measurement
  • Malay: kebolehpercayaan — quality of a measurement
  • Portuguese: fiabilidade — quality of a measurement
  • Portuguese: confiabilidade — quality of a measurement
  • Russian: то́чность (tóčnostʹ) — quality of a measurement
  • Spanish: fiabilidad — quality of a measurement
  • Ukrainian: то́чність (tóčnistʹ) — quality of a measurement
  • Ukrainian: докла́дність (dokládnistʹ) — quality of a measurement
Real reading context

reliability in complete knowledge articles