Word
credence
Phoneticscre·dence
US/ˈkɹidəns/
UK/kɹˈɛdəns/
Definitions
01belief or acceptance
n. the belief that something is true or valid.
n. the acceptance of a statement, theory, or claim as true or valid, especially when supported by evidence.
“The new evidence gave credence to his claim that he was innocent.”
“The discovery of the original manuscript lent significant credence to the historian's controversial theory regarding the treaty's origins.”
Formal
Usage
Commonly used in the collocations 'give credence to' or 'lend credence to'.
Synonyms
02liturgical table
n. a small table used in a church to hold the bread and wine for a service.
n. a small side table, often placed near the altar, used to hold the elements of the Eucharist before they are consecrated.
“The priest placed the silver cups on the credence before the service began.”
“The ornate marble credence stood to the right of the high altar, holding the cruets and the basin for the ritual washing of hands.”
Technical · Formal
Usage
Usually appears as 'credence table' in modern ecclesiastical contexts.
Synonyms
03probability estimate
n. how likely you think something is to be true, shown as a number.
n. a subjective probability estimate representing a person's degree of belief in a specific proposition.
“The scientist assigned a high credence to the theory based on the data.”
“In Bayesian epistemology, a credence is a numerical representation of an agent's confidence in the truth of a hypothesis.”
Academic · Technical
Usage
Common in philosophy and statistics.
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“The centering of Israeli perspectives in these earlier works – as well as in “NAZA” – also shows how violence against Palestinians can be given greater credence when it’s described by Israelis themselves.” “This argument is routinely marshaled to argue for a reduced childhood vaccination schedule – and to give credence to the thoroughly debunked link between childhood vaccines and autism .” Etymology
From Middle English credence, from Old French credence, from Medieval Latin crēdentia (“belief, faith”), from Latin crēdēns, present active participle of crēdō (“loan, confide in, trust, believe”). Compare French croyance, French créance, Italian credenza, Portuguese crença, Romanian credință, Spanish creencia. Doublet of credenza.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Related words
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/credence