Credibleness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The trait of being able to inspire belief or confidence in a statement is recognized as the level of reliability it demonstrates
2. The extent to which something can be considered credible is reflected in its ability to be accepted as truthful or valid
3. The quality of being believable or trustworthy is determined by how convincingly a statement or claim can be accepted as genuine or factual

Etymology: Credibleness is a plain compound: the adjective "credible" with the suffix "-ness" added to form a noun of state or quality. The suffix itself has deep roots in English, descending through Old English "-nes" and Middle English "-nesse" from a Germanic form that was already in use long before written English, so the ending is far older than the adjective it attaches to. The adjective "credible" is the more interesting half. It comes from the Latin "credibilis", built from "credere", "to believe", so a credible thing is literally one that can be believed. Its ancestry runs back to a Proto-Indo-European root for the act of trusting or putting faith in something, a sense that survives in the word's core meaning. The modern noun therefore names the quality of being worthy of belief, which is why the word usually describes how far a claim, source or witness deserves trust rather than whether it is true.

Synonyms: trustworthiness, reliability, believability

Antonyms: unreliability, doubtfulness