Meaning & use
incredulous
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Unable or unwilling to believe something, and showing it.
Grammar: Describes a person or their reaction; often followed by at or of.
Patterns
- incredulous at something
- incredulous of something
She gave an incredulous laugh when he told her the price.
The crowd was incredulous at the referee's decision.
He stared, incredulous, at the empty box.
adjectivebefore a noun
Expressing disbelief in the tone of voice, face or look.
Grammar: Often modifies words like look, voice, stare or tone.
Patterns
- an incredulous look
- an incredulous tone
An incredulous look crossed her face.
"You did what?" he asked in an incredulous voice.
The teacher shot him an incredulous glance.
Word forms
| comparative | more incredulous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most incredulous |
Common combinations
- incredulous look
- She gave him an incredulous look.
- incredulous laugh
- He let out an incredulous laugh.
- incredulous at
- The fans were incredulous at the last-minute win.
- incredulous tone
- "Seriously?" he said in an incredulous tone.
- stare incredulously
- We stared incredulously at the bill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- skeptical
- Skeptical means doubting and wanting proof, while incredulous means finding something almost impossible to believe.
- disbelieving
- Disbelieving is the plain word for not believing, whereas incredulous suggests strong surprise.
- doubtful
- Doubtful is milder and means uncertain, not shocked.
- astonished
- Astonished expresses surprise, but not necessarily that the person doubts the truth.
Opposites
Word family
- incredulity noun
- the state of not being able to believe something
- incredulously adverb
- in a way that shows disbelief
- credulous adjective
- too ready to believe things
- incredible adjective
- hard to believe, or amazing
Commonly confused: incredulous or incredible?
incredulous vs incredible
Incredible describes the thing that is hard to believe, while incredulous describes the person who cannot believe it.
Practice
When she heard she'd won the lottery twice, she was ______ and asked him to repeat it.
Choose one answer.
Incredulous describes the person who struggles to believe news. Incredible would describe the news itself, and credulous means too ready to believe.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incredulous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.