Word
Falsifiability
The capacity of a claim to conflict with a possible observation
Examples
The prediction's falsifiability depended on specifying what the instrument should measure.
A forecast that explains every possible outcome has avoided falsifiability.
Origin
The philosopher Karl Popper made falsifiability central to his account of science in The Logic of Scientific Discovery, first published in German in 1934. Falsifiable does not mean false. It means that some conceivable evidence would count against the claim.
How it connects
The term identifies what an explanation must risk to be tested.
This word appeared in Giving an idea a chance to fail, the Involves connection for September 12, 2026, which asked: What would you have to observe to change your mind?
Check yourself
Which claim has the clearest falsifiability?
This process will produce a reading above ten under the specified conditions. Exactly. A stated condition and measurable prediction identify an outcome that could count against the claim.
What the sources establish
Popper developed falsifiability as a demarcation criterion; falsifiable means open to possible contradiction, not already false.
Sources
Karl Popper (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Sections on falsifiability, scientific method, and the distinction between logical and methodological falsification