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Incredible vs Incredulous - What's the difference?

incredible | incredulous |

As adjectives the difference between incredible and incredulous

is that incredible is too implausible to be credible; beyond belief; unbelievable while incredulous is skeptical, disbelieving, or unable to believe.

incredible

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Too implausible to be credible; beyond belief; unbelievable.
  • * 1980 September 16, (w), quoted in William A. Schwartz et al., The Nuclear Seduction: Why the Arms Race Doesn’t Matter—And What Does , University of California Press (1990, 1993), ISBN 0-520-06134-9, page 29:
    • I get lost in what is credible and not credible. This whole thing gets so incredible when you consider wiping out whole nations, it is difficult to establish credibility.
  • * 2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, page 796:
    • He therefore found revealed religion incredible in a literal sense, and, as Bayle had done before him, he radically separated morality from the practice of organized religion.
  • Amazing; astonishing; awe-inspiring.
    • He was so wrapped up in watching the incredible special effects that he couldn't keep track of the story.
  • Marvelous; profoundly affecting; wonderful.
    • I had such an incredible slice of pizza last night that I simply can't think about anything else.

    Synonyms

    * unbelievable

    Related terms

    * credibility * credible * creed * incredibility * incredibly

    incredulous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Skeptical, disbelieving, or unable to believe.
  • * 1918 ,
    • Xodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration of the events which had transpired within the arena at the rites of Issus.
  • Expressing or indicative of incredulity.
  • * 2009 , '>citation
    • Reactions at Sun's campus, an hour's drive from San Francisco, ranged from the fearful to the incredulous .
  • * 1601 , William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night , III.4:
    • Why euery thing adheres togither, that no dramme of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle, no incredulous or vnsafe circumstance [...].
  • * 1984 , , opinion in People v Terrell'', 459 N.E.2d 1337, ] quoted in David C. Brody, James R. Acker, and Wayne A. Logan, ''Criminal Law ,[http://books.google.com/books?id=2ipUSeStAzQC Jones & Bartlett Publishers (2001), ISBN 0-8342-1083-5, page 564,
    • Faced with these facts, we find it incredulous that [the] defendant had any intent other than the armed robbery of the service station.

    Derived terms

    * incredulously

    Related terms

    * incredulity * credulous