credible

See also: crédible

English

Etymology

From Middle English credible, borrowed from Middle French credible, from Latin crēdibilis (“worthy of belief”), from crēdō (“believe”); see credit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɛdəbəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

  (file)

Adjective

credible (comparative more credible, superlative most credible)

1. Believable or plausible.

   think up a credible excuse

   credible alibi

   • 2022 December 28, Philip Haigh, “Building the case for West Midlands rail improvements”, in RAIL, number 973, page 25:

     While WMRE makes clear that electrification is the only credible option to decarbonise, it says that bi-mode trains could be used in the interim.

2. Dependable or reliable.

   credible sources

3. Authentic or convincing.

   credible acting

Antonyms

• incredible, noncredible, uncredible

Related terms

• credibility
• credit
• credence
• credential

Translations

believable or plausible

• Armenian: արժանահավատ (aržanahavat)
• Bulgarian: правдоподобен (bg) (pravdopodoben)
• Catalan: creïble (ca)
• French: crédible (fr)
• Galician: crible (gl), críbel (gl)
• Georgian: დასაჯერებელი (dasaǯerebeli), შესაძლებელი (šesaʒlebeli)
• German: glaubhaft (de)
• Hungarian: hihető (hu)
• Irish: sochreidte
• Latin: crēdibilis (la)
• Macedonian: веродо́стоен (verodóstoen), у́верлив (úverliv)
• Manx: so-chredjal
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: troverdig (no)

• Portuguese: crível (pt), credível (pt)
• Romanian: credibil (ro), plauzibil (ro), demn de încredere
• Spanish: creíble (es)
• Swedish: trolig (sv)
• Turkish: inandırıcı (tr)

dependable or reliable

• Greek: αξιόπιστος (el) (axiópistos)

authentic or convincing

• Armenian: արժանահավատ (aržanahavat)
• Bulgarian: заслужаващ доверие (zaslužavašt doverie)
• Catalan: creïble (ca)
• Dutch: geloofwaardig (nl)
• French: crédible (fr)
• Galician: cribel, crível
• Georgian: დამაჯერებელი (damaǯerebeli), დასაჯერებელი (dasaǯerebeli), ნდობით აღჭურვილი (ndobit aɣč̣urvili), ნდობის ღირსი (ndobis ɣirsi)
• German: glaubwürdig (de)
• Hungarian: hiteles (hu), hitelt érdemlő
• Latin: fidus
• Manx: so-chredjal
• Portuguese: crível (pt), credível (pt)
• Spanish: creíble (es)
• Swedish: trovärdig (sv), tillförlitlig (sv)

See also

• street cred

Further reading

• “credible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “credible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• credeable, credebule, credibele, credibill, credyble, credybyl

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French crédible, from Latin crēdibilis; compare crede, credence, and creditour.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krɛˈdibəl/, /ˈkrɛdibəl/

Adjective

credible (Late Middle English)

1. credible (believable, plausible)
2. credible (dependable, reliable)
3. naive; easily trusting

Descendants

• English: credible

References

• “credīble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.