credibility
n. uncountablen. the quality that makes people believe or trust someone or something. If you have this, others think you are telling the truth and know what you are talking about.
n. the quality of being trusted and believed in. Often used in professional or legal contexts to describe the reliability of a witness, source, or argument.
The expert's long career gives her a lot of credibility.
The witness lost all credibility when the lawyer proved he was lying about his location.
The administration struggled to maintain its political credibility after several key promises were broken during the first hundred days of the term.
Borrowed from French crédibilité, from Medieval Latin credibilitas, from Latin credibilis. By surface analysis, credible + -ity.
Commonly paired with verbs like 'gain', 'lose', 'establish', or 'undermine'.