Basic Details
Word: Credible
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Able to be believed or trusted; convincing.
Synonyms: believable, convincing, plausible, reliable
Antonyms: unbelievable, unconvincing, implausible
How to Spell Credible
Syllables: cred - i - ble
Tricky part: It ends in -ible, not -able. The middle vowel is i.
Watch out for: credable, credeble, creddible
Memory tip: You already know incredible, and it shares the -ible ending. Take in off incredible and you have credible.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The news channel quoted only credible experts on the floods.
Example 2: Is there any credible proof that the old fort is haunted?
Example 3: Newspapers should check that their sources are credible.
Fun Fact
Incredible literally means not able to be believed, but today people use it far more often to mean amazing or wonderful.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. dubious 2. gullible 3. credable 4. plausible
a) able to be believed
b) easily tricked into believing things
c) seeming reasonable or likely
d) doubtful or not to be trusted
Show answer
a) able to be believed. Plausible, dubious and gullible are spelt correctly; credible takes -ible, like incredible.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word credible as used in the sentence:
The police found the driver's account credible because two passers-by said the same thing.
a) believable
b) plausible
c) unconvincing
d) reliable
Show answer
c) unconvincing. Believable, reliable and plausible are near synonyms of credible, so unconvincing must be the opposite.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Ritu gave a cbdeirel reason, so the teacher let her hand in the project late.
a) readable
b) decibel
c) credible
d) crucible
Show answer
c) credible. Crucible needs a u, decibel has only seven letters and readable needs an a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A credible witness is one whose story ____.
a) can be trusted
b) is told in court
c) is hard to hear
d) is very long
Show answer
a) can be trusted
2. Credible and credulous look alike. A credulous person ____.
a) believes things too easily
b) never believes anything
c) tells many lies
d) is hard to understand
Show answer
a) believes things too easily
