credible

adjective

cred·​i·​ble ˈkre-də-bəl 

1

: offering reasonable grounds for being believed or trusted

credible evidence

a credible source

credible witnesses

gave a credible account of the accident

… said the threats were not deemed credible.

—Stephen Wall

2

: good enough to be effective

a credible job

… does a credible imitation of a ballet student's exercises, as well as a flapper's Charleston.

—Dany Margolies

often, specifically : of sufficient capability to be militarily effective

a credible deterrent

credible forces

credibly

ˈkre-də-blē 

adverb

Did you know?

Credible evidence is evidence that's likely to be believed. A credible plan is one that might actually work, and a credible excuse is one your parents might actually believe. And just as credible means "believable", the noun credibility means "believability". (But we no longer use incredible to mean the literal opposite of credible, just as we no longer use unbelievable as the literal opposite of believable.) Since cred is short for credibility, "street cred" is the kind of credibility among tough young people that you can only get by proving yourself on the mean streets of the inner city.

Synonyms

• believable
• creditable
• likely
• plausible
• presumptive
• probable

Examples of credible in a Sentence

We've received credible information about the group's location.

She does a credible job of playing the famous singer.

Recent Examples on the Web

Image of satanic meal digitally fabricated as joke There are no such products listed on McDonald's website and no credible news reports about McDonald's selling such a meal. —Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024

Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive. —Erin O’Brien, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Apr. 2024

Riley’s defense argued the police officers in the case were not credible. —Denise Royal, CNN, 8 Apr. 2024

Of course, there are credible arguments against hybrids. —Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 3 Apr. 2024

If the United States and the CARICOM do not get this next chapter right—and stand by leaders who are credible, are legitimate, and have the bureaucratic experience to put the Haitian state back on track—the cycle of violence and dysfunction will not end. —Pierre Esperance, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2024

But while a judge found that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill was not a wholly credible witness, jurors were not persuaded by her actions. —Juliette Arcodia, NBC News, 1 Apr. 2024

While there has not been credible evidence suggesting that AI has been utilized for strike capabilities, it has been used to acquire battlefield intelligence by identifying different types of adversarial weaponry and machinery. —Caitlin McFall, Fox News, 31 Mar. 2024

Such agreements must embody robust enforcement mechanisms with credible commitments by nations that create incentives for China to eliminate or curb this behavior. —Alden Abbott, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin credibilis, from credere — see credence

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

credible

adjective

cred·​i·​ble ˈkred-ə-bəl 

: offering reasonable grounds for being believed

a credible story

credibly

ˈkred-ə-blē 

adverb