Credibility

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Credibility \Cred`i*bil"i*ty\ (kr[e^]d`[i^]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]),
     n. [Cf. F. cr['e]dibilit['e].]
     The quality of being credible; credibleness; as, the
     credibility of facts; the credibility of witnesses.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  credibility
       n : the quality of being believable or trustworthy [syn: {credibleness},
            {believability}] [ant: {incredibility}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  19 Moby Thesaurus words for "credibility":
     absolute credibility, acceptability, believability, believableness,
     conceivability, credit, plausibility, reliability, tenability,
     trustworthiness, truth, truth-loving, truth-speaking,
     truth-telling, truthfulness, veraciousness, veracity, veridicality,
     verity
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CREDIBILITY. Worthiness of belief. To entitle a witness to credibility, he 
  must be competent. Vide Competency. 
       2. Human testimony can seldom acquire the certainty of demonstration. 
  Witnesses not unfrequently are mistaken or wish to deceive; the most that 
  can be expected is that moral certainty which arises from analogy. The 
  credibility which is attached to such testimony, arises. from the double 
  presumption that the witnesses have good sense and intelligence, and that 
  they are not mistaken nor deceived; they are further presumed to have 
  probity, and that they do not wish to deceive. 
       3. To gain credibility, we must be assured, first, that the witness has 
  not been mistaken nor deceived. To be assured as far as possible on this 
  subject, it is proper to consider the nature and quality of the facts 
  proved; the quality and person of the witness; the testimony in itself; and 
  to compare it with the depositions of other witnesses on the subject, and 
  with known facts. Secondly, we must be satisfied that he does not wish to 
  deceive: there are strong assurances of this, when the witness is under 
  oath, is a man of integrity, and disinterested. Vide Arch. Civ. Pl. 444; 5 
  Com. Dig. 449; 8 Watts, R. 227; Competency.