- The quality or condition of being improbable.
- Something improbable.
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n.
His tale he told with a solemn face
And a tender, melancholy grace.
Improbable 'twas, no doubt,
When you came to think it out,
But the fascinated crowd
Their deep surprise avowed
And all with a single voice averred
'Twas the most amazing thing they'd heard --
All save one who spake never a word,
But sat as mum
As if deaf and dumb,
Serene, indifferent and unstirred.
Then all the others turned to him
And scrutinized him limb from limb --
Scanned him alive;
But he seemed to thrive
And tranquiler grow each minute,
As if there were nothing in it.
"What! what!" cried one, "are you not amazed
At what our friend has told?" He raised
Soberly then his eyes and gazed
In a natural way
And proceeded to say,
As he crossed his feet on the mantel-shelf:
"O no -- not at all; I'm a liar myself."
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
the quality of being improbable
Synonym: improbableness
Antonym: probability (meaning #2)
Improbability is the modal probability employed by Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Improbability is modeled after mathematical probability, but is only related to real probability in the sense that irony is related to chance. In the fiction of Douglas Adams, improbability is portrayed by a succession of increasingly unlikely events. As a literary device it is closer to the concept of deus ex machina than probability. However, as the characters frequently comment about how improbable this or that is, it becomes a point of self-reference.
Improbability is based on a bizarre perception of quantum theory: if a certain elementary particle has a probability of being found in a certain place (such as within an atom) there is also a near infinitely improbable—but not quite impossible—chance of the particle being found anywhere else in the universe at the same time. This theory is employed to allow probability-powered engines known as improbability drives to let ships driven by such drives, such as the Heart of Gold, to travel interstellarly in a way similar to existing anywhere in the universe at the same time.
Improbability drives usually function on the theory that the likelihood of any event happening is as possible, while in no way as probable, as any other event. Improbability ships usually use this same theory, but instead these events are the ship transporting to certain destinations. The problem with an improbability drive is that unless one has a very powerful computer such as Eddie to do it, one must work out exactly how improbable it is for this event to happen for the drive to cause it to.
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
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![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Improbability". Read more |
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