Credible and Incredible

How to Use Incredible

Credible and Incredible are closely related words, and each of them used to mean something specific. The meaning of each was easy to decipher because of the root word: crediblis and because of their close association.

Credible

believable, worthy of belief, capable of being believed

Incredible

Incredible means (at least for now) the opposite of credible.

The Oxford English Dictionary lists it as:

• impossible to believe. Difficult to believe; extraordinary: the noise from the crowd was incredible.

And then in a surprising move for OED, they list this as the third definition:

• informal very good; wonderful: I was mesmerized: she looked so incredible.

In all fairness, they did list it as informal, still it surprised me.

Look at Merriam-Webster’s take on it.

• : too extraordinary and improbable to be believed

And here’s an example.

• I heard there was a snowstorm in the Florida Keys, but I find that incredible.

incredible sunset

Credible and Incredible

In that context, the word is used as it was intended: difficult or impossible to believe. Snowstorms don’t occur in the Keys. However, in describing the sunset above, some people may use the word incredible, but that would be wrong because that kind of sunset in the Florida Keys is almost commonplace. Describing that sunset as incredible would be using the word as an intensifier, which would hasten its deterioration as a unique word. 

Credible and incredible are closely related words, but credible has fared much better. It is still used as it was meant to be, as in “The priest proved to be a credible witness.” Or, “I found his testimony to be credible.”

Despite the staunch resistance of credible, it’s opposite incredible isn’t doing as well. It has fallen (like so many others) to primary use as an intensifier, such as “terrific, fantastic, astounding, and others.”

Examples follow. (these were seen on social media within the past few months.)

• We saw xxx last night. It was incredible.
• It’s raining like hell here. Incredible.
• She’s incredible.
• I met xxx once. He’s an incredible guy.

From the context, it was obvious that incredible was not being used in the traditional sense but as an intensifier.

My suggestion is that when someone tells you a story, don’t respond with “That’s incredible.” If the person is someone who knows better, they’ll think you may be calling them a liar.

Earlier, we stated incredible was “too extraordinary and improbable to be believed,” citing Merriam-Webster’s definition.

I checked many dictionaries and the definitions ranged from difficult to impossible to be believed. The thing they had in common is that every one of them stuck to the theme of the “difficult to be believed.”

With that said, a few of the dictionaries included the informal (and recent) use of incredible as an intensifier, so if you use it that way, you’ll have credible sources to back you up, but if I were you, I’d shy away from it and stick to the more traditional meaning.

And for a final note on credible: “The priest was on his way home when he witnessed a shooting in an alley. He proved to be a credible witness.”

the difference between credible and incredible

If you want to read more about intensifiers, try this article.

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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books including Simply Put: The Plain English Grammar Guide, and the No Mistakes Careers series as well as other books on grammar, fantasy, publishing, writing, and children’s fiction and nonfiction.

When Giacomo isn’t writing, he’s helping his wife take care of the animals on their sanctuary. At last count, they had forty animals—seven dogs, one horse, six cats, and twenty-five pigs.

Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who used to take walks with Giacomo every day.

He lives in Texas, where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with forty loving “friends.” 

Tags: intensifier, misused words