Meaning & use
incredulously
Last updated
UK/ɪnˈkredjʊləsli/
US/ɪnˈkredʒələsli/
Meaning
adverbcomparable
In a way that shows you find something hard or impossible to believe.
Grammar: Usually describes how someone looks, speaks or reacts: she stared incredulously.
Patterns
- stare incredulously
- ask incredulously
He stared incredulously at the final score.
"You sold it for a dollar?" she asked incredulously.
The crowd listened incredulously as the mayor denied everything.
Common combinations
- stare incredulously
- They stared incredulously at the empty box.
- ask incredulously
- "All of it?" he asked incredulously.
- look incredulously
- She looked incredulously at her phone.
- laugh incredulously
- He laughed incredulously at the excuse.
- repeat incredulously
- She repeated the price incredulously.
Synonyms and how they differ
- in disbelief
- In disbelief is a phrase that can describe a feeling, while incredulously describes the manner of reacting.
- skeptically
- Skeptically suggests doubt you are still weighing, while incredulously suggests you can hardly accept it at all.
- doubtfully
- Doubtfully is milder and shows uncertainty.
- unbelievingly
- Unbelievingly is rarer and means the same, but sounds more literary.
Opposites
credulouslytrustingly
Word family
- incredulous adjective
- unable or unwilling to believe
- incredulity noun
- disbelief
- credulous adjective
- too ready to believe
- incredible adjective
- hard to believe, or amazing
Commonly confused: incredulously or incredibly?
incredulously vs incredibly
Incredibly means extremely or amazingly; incredulously describes disbelief by the person reacting.
Practice
"You walked here from the airport?" she asked ___.
Choose one answer.
Incredulously shows disbelief in the way she asks; incredibly would say how extreme something is.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incredulously”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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