credulous
adjective
Did you know?
The cred in credulous is from Latin credere, meaning “to believe” or “to trust.” Credulous describes people who would be wise to be a bit more skeptical, or things that ought to be approached with some skepticism. The word has a useful opposite in the term incredulous, which often describes something that shows or suggests one’s lack of belief (“listening with an incredulous smile”), or someone who cannot or will not believe something, as in “an outrageous statement that left them incredulous.” (You’ll do well not to confuse incredulous with incredible.)
Examples of credulous in a Sentence
Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
But like populism’s critique of insider politics, the outsider critique of the medical establishment has always struggled to offer an alternative vision that’s rigorous rather than credulous.
—Ross Douthat, Mercury News, 14 Aug. 2025
Critics say internal panic over this dynamic caused Fox to give overly credulous coverage to false claims of election fraud.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 19 July 2025
To those of us who look to the Doctor to represent a kind of super-powered secular humanism, the show's credulous embrace of religion and superstition feels like a breach of contract with the viewer.
—Glen Weldon, NPR, 7 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for credulous
Cite this Entry
“Credulous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/credulous. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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credulous
adjective
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