Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Capable of being believed; believable or plausible: synonym: plausible.
  • adjective Considered capable of achieving a goal.
  • adjective Being of sufficient military capability to deter an attack or carry out an operation successfully.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Worthy of credit or belief, because of known or obvious veracity, integrity, or competence: applied to persons.
  • Capable of being credited or believed, because involving no contradiction, absurdity, or impossibility; believable: applied to things.
  • A witness not disqualified nor impeached as unworthy of credit: as, the fact was established on the trial by the testimony of several credible witnesses.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being credited or believed; worthy of belief; entitled to confidence; trustworthy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective believable or plausible
  • adjective authentic or convincing

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (a common but incorrect usage where `credulous' would be appropriate) credulous
  • adjective appearing to merit belief or acceptance
  • adjective capable of being believed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin crēdibilis, from crēdere, to believe; see kerd- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English credible, from Old French credible, from Latin crēdibilis ("worthy of belief"), from crēdō ("believe"); see credit.

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Examples

  • Military officials imposed the ban in mid-July after receiving what they called "credible allegations" that some detainees had been mistreated while in the custody of Gen. Abdul Razziq's forces.

    U.S. Probes Afghan Abuse Dion Nissenbaum 2011

  • Last week the State Department felt obliged to call U.S. ambassador Robert Ford home from Damascus after receiving what it called "credible threats against his personal safety."

    Turkey Turns on Assad 2011

  • Officials have been warning of a potential attack on German soil for months, citing what they described as credible intelligence that terrorists were considering an assault on a major landmark such as the Reichstag, the federal parliament building in Berlin.

    German Authorities Intensify Search for Terrorist Suspects David Crawford 2011

  • The UN spokesman says the Stabilization Mission will continue to help the electoral commission achieve what he calls a credible vote.

    U.N. Assists DRC in Organizing General Elections 2011

  • At a hastily called press conference at the headquarters of the New York Police Department, authorities in New York City offered little detail into what they called a credible terrorist threat received Thursday, as the city nears a large scale commemoration of 9/11.

    New York to Add Officers, Increase Monitoring Tamer El-Ghobashy 2011

  • State police first went to the site in early June, following up on what they called a credible lead.

    Stacy Peterson Search Continued Last Weekend In Peoria, Says Source 2010

  • Because they believe that if they are going to send more troops into Afghanistan, as the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said this weekend, you have to be dealing with what he called a credible partner over there.

    CNN Transcript Oct 20, 2009 2009

  • The Catholic commission said Sunday it compiled what it called credible witness reports of "systematic violence in the form of assaults, murders, torture, abductions and wanton destruction of property against innocent civilians whose alleged crime is to have voted wrongly."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo detention facility and pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003, an ICRC spokesman said Wednesday.

    David Corn: Has Pentagon Spokesman Been Caught in a Koran-related Fib? 2008

  • Oh, please: The Stephen Harper government didn't know that the Canadian military had stopped handing over Afghan detainees last fall, after Canadian monitors found what they called a credible allegation of torture?

    At least they don't shoot our generals 2008

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