Adherence vs Faithfulness vs Groundedness

These terms are used interchangeably in RAG evaluation literature, but all refer to the same concept: whether a generated response introduces claims not supported by the provided context.

• Adherence (TRACe terminology)
• Faithfulness (RAGAS terminology)
• Groundedness (Microsoft terminology)
• Attribution (academic literature)

All measure: Did the model make things up, or did it stick to what was in the retrieved documents?

The terminological fragmentation reflects the field’s rapid development without standardization. When evaluating RAG systems, treat these as synonyms unless a paper explicitly defines them differently.

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