incredulous

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin incrēdulus (“unbelieving”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɹɛdjʊləs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.ˈkɹɛ.d͡ʒə.ləs/

Adjective

incredulous (comparative more incredulous, superlative most incredulous)

1. Skeptical, disbelieving, or unable to believe. [from 16th c.]
   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “A Break for Liberty”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, →OCLC, page 191:

     Xodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration of the events which had transpired within the arena at the rites of Issus.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     In safe flats and dark restaurants, never the same one twice, we ate quiet meals, exchanged our goods and gazed upon each other with the incredulous contentment that passes between mountaineers when they are standing on the peak.

2. Expressing or indicative of incredulity. [from 17th c.]
   • 2009 March 18, Reuters, “Sun Micro Troops Fearful, Incredulous About IBM”, in Wired.com‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 June 2013:

     Reactions at Sun's campus, an hour's drive from San Francisco, ranged from the fearful to the incredulous.

   • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 1:21 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:

     Then came a report over the radio from one of St. Lo's pilots. He was reporting seeing ships, and they weren't American. Worse still, they were close. Incredulous, Admiral Sprague demanded confirmation, and, circling in closer, the pilot radioed back: "I can see pagoda masts. I see the biggest meatball flag on the biggest battleship I ever saw!"

3. (largely obsolete, now only nonstandard) Difficult to believe; incredible. [from 17th c.]
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     Why euery thing adheres togither, that no dramme of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle, no incredulous or vnsafe circumstance […] .

   • 1984, Supreme Court of Illinois, opinion in People v Terrell, 459 N.E.2d 1337,^[3] quoted in David C. Brody, James R. Acker, and Wayne A. Logan, Criminal Law,^[4] Jones & Bartlett Publishers (2001), →ISBN, page 564,

     Faced with these facts, we find it incredulous that [the] defendant had any intent other than the armed robbery of the service station.

Derived terms

• incredulosity
• incredulously

Related terms

• incredulity
• credulous

Translations

Skeptical, disbelieving

• Bulgarian: недоверчив (bg) (nedoverčiv)
• Catalan: incrèdul
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可疑的

• Czech: nevěřící
• Dutch: ongelovig (nl), sceptisch (nl), skeptisch
• Finnish: epäilevä (fi), epäuskoinen, skeptinen (fi)
• French: incrédule (fr)
• Galician: incrédulo
• German: ungläubig (de), skeptisch (de)
• Greek: δύσπιστος (el) m (dýspistos), σκεπτικός (el) m (skeptikós)
• Manx: anchredjuagh
• Ottoman Turkish: اینانمز (inanmaz)
• Persian: ناباور (nâbâvar)
• Portuguese: incrédulo (pt)
• Russian: скептичный (ru) (skeptičnyj), недове́рчивый (ru) (nedovérčivyj)
• Spanish: incrédulo (es)
• Swedish: misstrogen (sv), skeptisk (sv)
• Turkish: kuşkucu (tr), septik (tr)

difficult to believe; incredible

• Bulgarian: невероятен (bg) (neverojaten)
• Czech: neuvěřitelný (cs)
• Danish: utrolig
• Dutch: ongeloofwaardig (nl), ongelooflijk (nl), ongelofelijk (nl)
• Finnish: uskomaton (fi), epäuskottava (fi)
• Greek: απίστευτος (el) m (apísteftos)
• Manx: anchredjallagh
• Russian: невероя́тный (ru) (neverojátnyj)
• Swedish: otrolig (sv)
• Turkish: inanması güç, inanılması güç