verisimilitude

Etymology

From Middle French vérisimilitude, from Latin vērīsimilitūdō (“likeness to truth”), more correctly written separately as vērī similitūdō; from vērī, genitive singular of vērus (“true, real”), + similitūdō (“likeness, resemblance”).

noun

1. The property of seeming true, of resembling reality; resemblance to reality, realism.
2. A statement which merely appears to be true.
3. (in composing a fiction): Faithfulness to its own rules; internal cohesion.
   On July 12, Madame filed suit for divorce, naming one Jane McManus as his principal mistress. Other adulteries were noted in the interest of verisimilitude. 1973, Gore Vidal, chapter 16, in Burr