# credibility

/ˌkɹɛdəˈbɪɫɪti/ (US) · /kɹˌɛdɪbˈɪlɪti/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/credibility
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. trustworthiness

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic

the quality that makes people trust you or believe what you say.

For teachers: the quality of being trusted and believed in. Uncountable in general usage.

- The scandal caused the politician to lose all his credibility with the voters.
- The administration's failure to address the initial reports of corruption severely undermined its credibility during the subsequent election cycle.

Usage: Often used with the verbs 'gain', 'lose', 'undermine', or 'establish'.

### 2. legal believability

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical · Formal

how much a judge or jury can believe a witness or a piece of evidence.

For teachers: the believability of a witness or testimony, evaluated based on consistency and probability.

- The lawyer questioned the witness's credibility because she had lied in the past.
- The defence sought to impeach the witness's credibility by introducing evidence of a prior conviction for perjury.

Teaching tip: In legal contexts, credibility is often 'attacked' or 'bolstered' through cross-examination.

## Examples

- 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.