2023-04-07 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – incredible & incredulous

Revision I

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง incredible = ‘in-KRED-uh-buhl’

ออกเสียง incredulous = ‘in-KREJ-uh-luhs’

 

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression

incredible & incredulous

Incredible means “unbelievable”: 

incredulous means “skeptical,” “unbelieving.”

“The story Bill told us was incredible,” 

“The speaker’s remarks left his audience incredulous,”

 

Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary

Incredible

The other day I heard a film reviewer praise a director 

because he created “incredible characters,” 

which would literally mean unbelievable characters. 

What the reviewer meant to say, of course, 

was precisely the opposite: 

characters so lifelike as to seem like real people. 

 

Intensifiers and superlatives 

tend to get worn down quickly through overuse 

and become almost meaningless, 

but it is wise to be aware of their root meanings 

so that you don’t unintentionally utter absurdities. 

“Fantastic” means “as in a fantasy” 

just as “fabulous” means “as in a fable.” 

 

A “wonderful” sight should make you pause in wonder (awe). 

Some of these words are worn down beyond redemption, however. 

For instance, who now expects a “terrific” sight to terrify?

 

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree 

incredible

unbelievable; not convincing: 

His story is incredible.

Not to be confused with:

incredulous – skeptical; disinclined to believe: 

I’m incredulous of his alibi.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Usage Notes:

commonly confused words

Incredible and incredulous are both adjectives. 

Incredible means "difficult or impossible to believe," 

as in "a movie telling an incredible story of survival," 

and "extremely good, great, or large," 

as in "the musician's incredible skill" 

and "a place of incredible beauty."

Incredulous means 

"not able or willing to believe something," 

as in 

"people were incredulous that the child had achieved the feat."

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Usage Notes

Does 'Incredible' Mean 'Not Credible'?

It did. 

Now it's more like "really really good."

 

What to Know

The in- prefix in incredible did initially imply "not," 

as the original definition of incredible was 

"too extraordinary to be believed," 

thus "not credible." 

However, over time 

the meaning of incredible weakened 

and is now taken to mean "amazing." 

 

This is similar to the weakening of the word unbelievable.

Original Meaning of 'Incredible'

When incredible first began being used, 

in the 15th century, it was with the meaning 

“too extraordinary and improbable to be believed.”

 

It did not take long for writers to begin using 

the word in a slightly weakened sense. 

Not as much weakened as ‘my brunch was simply incredible,’ 

but enough so that it can be interpreted 

more to mean “amazing” than “unable to be believed.”

 

'Unbelievable' Has Taken a Similar Path

Similarly to incredible, 

unbelievable started off meaning 

“too improbable for belief,” 

before taking on a somewhat weakened sense.

Despite the fact that 

unbelievable and incredible are a bit flexible, 

not all words in English that are composed of 

{a negative prefix} + {an adjective referring to belief} 

have broadened in similar manner. 

Incredulous still largely refers to not being credulous, 

and implausible almost always 

is restricted to meaning “not plausible.”

 

So for those who have managed to work out 

all the roles played by in-, there is a wild card: 

any of the words using this as a negative prefix 

may slip from their semantic moorings. 

Another one of the things that makes English 

an incredible language.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

usage notes:

incredible vs incredulous

it’s amazing! (or is it?)

Imagine someone tells you a story that is wildly improbable, 

and you (not being a trusting sort of person) express disbelief 

— are you incredulous and the story incredible,

or is it the other way around? 

You will be happy to know that 

in this case there is a fairly simple answer, 

at least as far as current usage goes; 

you are incredulous (“skeptical”) 

and the story is incredible 

(“too extraordinary and improbable to be believed”).

 

The Origins of 'Incredible' and 'Incredulous'

Both words have shorter versions that came before them; 

incredulous was preceded in use by credulous 

(“ready to believe especially on slight or uncertain evidence”),

as incredible was by credible 

(“offering reasonable grounds for being believed”). 

 

Incredible is the older of the two words, 

in English use since the 15th century. 

 

Incredulous came into use in the second half of the 16th century, and in its earliest use had the meaning of 

“unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true.”

 

In the early 17th century, however, 

some writers began to use incredulous 

in a manner that was synonymous with incredible 

(“too extraordinary and improbable to be believed”. 

This broadened sense of incredulous 

fell into disuse by the end of the 18th century, 

although it appears to be picking up in recent decades. 

It is not unusual to find this use in print, 

although in many cases it occurs in the reprinting of speech. 

This use of incredulous is still widely regarded as an error. 

It is recommended that you use incredible 

to mean ‘too outlandish to be believed’ and 

incredulous to mean ‘skeptical.’ 

Unless you are writing Shakespearean fanfic, 

in which case you can use incredulous however you want.