believable

English

Etymology

From Middle English bilevable, beleevable, equivalent to believe +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈliːvəbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

believable (comparative more believable or (rare) believabler, superlative most believable or (rare) believablest)

1. Capable of being believed; credible.

   believable answer

   believable account

   believable story

   • 1953 February, American Water Works Association, “Percolation and Runoff”, in Journal, volume 45, number 2, Denver, Colo., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40, columns 1–2:

     So far as cartoons are concerned these days, nothing—not even sewage works—is sacred, and everything is thereby readabler and believabler.

   • 1974 November 8, Robert LaBrasca, “‘Streetcar’ good show despite poor staging”, in The Capital Times, volume 115, number 126, Madison, Wis., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 14, column 1:

     Blanche’s quavering voice and fluttering hands are indispensable elements that make it easy for her to be played in a pat and stiff manner, but Fischer has tapped deeper qualities in this acutely neurotic but tragic antiheroine to make her not only believabler, but sympathetic as well.

   • 2013, Paddy Duffy, “Introduction”, in Did That Actually Happen? A Journey Through Ridiculous Moments in Irish Politics, Dublin: Hachette Books Ireland, →ISBN, page 1:

     Like Dr Crane, I too dreamt of the day when I might see my name staring back at me in Easons, and it’s scarcely believable that the day has come. Even scarcerly believabler is the way it came about.

Synonyms

• plausible

Antonyms

• unbelievable

Derived terms

• believably
• believeableness
• unbelievable

Related terms

• believability

Translations

capable of being believed; credible

• Albanian: besueshëm (sq)
• Asturian: creyible, creíble
• Basque: sinesgarri
• Bulgarian: правдоподобен (bg) (pravdopodoben)
• Catalan: creïble (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可相信的 (kě xiāngxìn de)

• Czech: uvěřitelný (cs) m
• Danish: trolig, troværdig
• Esperanto: kredebla, kredinda
• Finnish: uskottava (fi)
• French: croyable (fr), crédible (fr)
• Galician: crible (gl), críbel (gl)
• Georgian: სარწმუნო (sarc̣muno), დასაჯერებელი (dasaǯerebeli), მოსალოდნელი (mosalodneli)
• German: glaubhaft (de)
• Hungarian: hihető (hu)
• Icelandic: trúanlegur (is), sennilegur (is)
• Irish: sochreidte
• Japanese: 信じられる (ja) (しんじられる, shinjirareru)
• Latin: crēdibilis (la)
• Latvian: ticams
• Macedonian: у́верлив (úverliv), веро́јатен (verójaten)
• Malayalam: വിശ്വസനീയമായ (viśvasanīyamāya), വിശ്വസനീയ (ml) (viśvasanīya)
• Manx: so-chredjal
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: troverdig (no)

• Occitan: credible
• Polish: wiarygodny (pl)
• Portuguese: crível (pt)
• Romanian: credibil (ro)
• Russian: правдоподо́бный (ru) (pravdopodóbnyj), вероя́тный (ru) (verojátnyj)
• Spanish: creíble (es)
• Swedish: trovärdig (sv)
• Turkish: inandırıcı (tr)
• Welsh: credadwy (cy)

References

• “believable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “believable”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.