A statement of the chance that an unknown quantity in reality has a particular value based on the readiness with which it would account for a given set of data; in this way the merits of various competing interpretations may be compared.
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like·li·hood (līkґle-hood) a function of data that specifies, for each value of an unknown parameter describing a population distribution, the probability of observing the values sampled. See also maximum likelihood estimate, under estimate.Medical dictionary. 2011.