Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A disposition to believe too readily.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A weak or ignorant disregard of the nature or strength of the evidence upon which a belief is founded; in general, a disposition, arising from weakness or ignorance, to believe too readily, especially impossible or absurd things.
- noun Synonyms Fanaticism, Bigotry, etc.
- noun See
superstition .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Readiness of belief; a disposition to believe on slight evidence.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
willingness tobelieve in someone or something in theabsence ofreasonable proof ;credulousness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun tendency to believe readily
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A wife whose mind was oriented in the new direction effectually silenced her husband's ridicule of what he called her credulity by reminding him that when wireless telegraphy was first suggested he had exclaimed, "Ah, that, you know, is one of the things that is not possible!"
Four-Dimensional Vistas Claude Fayette Bragdon 1906
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In the circumstances widespread credulity is their greatest asset, and our greatest hazard — especially when we allow the discrete questions of quality (on one hand) and rarity (on the other) to get thoroughly mixed up.
Archive 2009-08-01 2009
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Their haplessness, ignorance and apathy are by-products of that still more basic corruption — and credulity is in fact a type of corruption in the current social/political arena writ large.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Attempts to Defeat the Kagan Nomination, and Political Hardball 2010
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The coincidences so strain credulity that they border on a deus ex machina.
A Progressive on the Prairie » Book Review: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood » Print 2009
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If the Obamatons want to lead with this message, they have to understand that it will strain credulity that you just now figured out that this was unworkable.
Matthew Yglesias » Are Televised Negotiations Even Possible? 2010
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The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
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Some of the final plot turns strain credulity, and Flynn has a thing for coining hyphenated words.
VinceKeenan.com 2009
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In the circumstances widespread credulity is their greatest asset, and our greatest hazard — especially when we allow the discrete questions of quality (on one hand) and rarity (on the other) to get thoroughly mixed up.
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[E] mploys a whiplash plot turn that may strain credulity, but its still an engaging suspense tale.
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That the circumstances described are, sadly, fairly tame compared to the horrific situations I've encountered covering court cases, stuff that would probably strain credulity if I ever attempted to present any of it as fiction.
An Interview with Mike Allen marshallpayne1 2009
kingparton commented on the word credulity
Only allow me to give you a word of advice: keep your credulity out of your pockets! Don't pay for the picture till it's delivered.
Henry James, "The Madonna of the Future"
July 28, 2011
ken.toson commented on the word credulity
Some scientist's credulity tend to make them seek simple answers to complex questions.
June 4, 2013