validity

What it means

1. countableuncountableThe state of being valid, authentic or genuine.

   As we saw, there are strong suggestions in Marx's works that truth should be understood as meaning 'validity' in relation to human needs.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 156

   Synonyms: validness

2. countableuncountableState of having legal force.
3. countableuncountableA quality of a measurement indicating the degree to which the measure reflects the underlying construct, that is, whether it measures what it purports to measure (see reliability).

In a sentence

As we saw, there are strong suggestions in Marx's works that truth should be understood as meaning 'validity' in relation to human needs.

1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 156

Where it comes from

1. Late Latinvaliditas
2. Middle Frenchvalidité
3. Englishvalidity

From valid + -ity, borrowed from Middle French validité, from Late Latin validitas.