Standard Lemma guide

believability

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: B AH0 L IY2 V AH0 B IH1 L IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state or quality of being believable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the quality of being believable or trustworthy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: credibility, credibleness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: quality

Narrower terms: authenticity, genuineness, legitimacy, cogency, validity, rigor, rigour, plausibility, plausibleness, street credibility, street cred, cred

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h1épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h1epider. Proto-Indo-European *h1pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *lewbh-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laubijaną Proto-West Germanic *laubijan Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan Old English belīefan Middle English bileven English believe Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin -abilitas Middle French -abletébor. Middle English -ablete English -ability English believability From believe + -ability.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: credibilitat — state or quality of being believable
  • Dutch: geloofwaardigheid — state or quality of being believable
  • French: crédibilité — state or quality of being believable
  • Galician: credibilidade — state or quality of being believable
  • German: Glaubwürdigkeit — state or quality of being believable
  • Ido: kredindebleso — state or quality of being believable
  • Italian: credibilità — state or quality of being believable
  • Occitan: credibilitat — state or quality of being believable
  • Portuguese: credibilidade — state or quality of being believable
  • Spanish: credibilidad — state or quality of being believable
  • Swedish: kredibilitet — state or quality of being believable