Etymology
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From Middle English incredible , from Latin incrēdibilis ( “ that cannot be believed ” ) , from in- ( “ not ” ) + crēdibilis ( “ worthy of belief ” ) , from crēdō ( “ believe ” ) .
Pronunciation
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( UK ) IPA (key ) : /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbəl/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
( US ) enPR : ĭngkrĕ'dəbəl , IPA (key ) : /ɪŋˈkɹɛdəbəl/ , [ɪ̈ŋˈkɹ̥ʷɛɾəbəɫ] , [ɪ̈ŋˈkɹ̥ʷɛɾəbɫ̩]
Rhymes: -ɛdɪbəl
Adjective
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incredible (comparative more incredible , superlative most incredible )
( literal ) Too implausible to be credible ; beyond belief ; unbelievable . [from 15th c.]
1955 , A. W. Schorger , The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction , →ISBN , page vii:The extinction of a species once so numerous seemed incredible .
1980 September 16, Senator John Glenn , quoted in William A. Schwartz et al., The Nuclear Seduction: Why the Arms Race Doesn’t Matter—And What Does , University of California Press (1990, 1993), →ISBN , page 29 :
I get lost in what is credible and not credible. This whole thing gets so incredible when you consider wiping out whole nations, it is difficult to establish credibility.
1986 June 6, Richard Feynman , “Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle”, in Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, Report to the President :The other may be that they sincerely believed it to be true, demonstrating an almost incredible lack of communication between themselves and their working engineers.
2009 , Diarmaid MacCulloch , A History of Christianity , Penguin, published 2010 , page 796 :He therefore found revealed religion incredible in a literal sense, and, as Bayle had done before him, he radically separated morality from the practice of organized religion.
( figurative ) Amazing ; astonishing ; awe -inspiring.
He was so wrapped up in watching the incredible special effects that he couldn't keep track of the story.
( figurative ) Marvellous ; profoundly affecting; wonderful .
I had such an incredible slice of pizza last night that I simply can't think about anything else.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Related terms
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Translations
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too implausible to be credible
Asturian: increyible , increíble
Azerbaijani: ağlabatmaz , ağlasığmaz , inanılmaz
Belarusian: неймаве́рны ( njejmavjérny ) , невераго́дны (be) ( njevjerahódny )
Bulgarian: невероя́тен (bg) ( neverojáten )
Catalan: increïble (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 難以置信 / 难以置信 (zh) ( nányǐzhìxìn )
Czech: neuvěřitelný (cs) m
Dutch: ongelofelijk (nl)
Esperanto: nekredebla (eo)
Finnish: uskomaton (fi) , epäuskottava (fi)
French: incroyable (fr)
Galician: incrible (gl) , incríbel (gl)
Georgian: დაუჯერებელი ( dauǯerebeli )
German: unglaubhaft , unglaublich (de)
Greek: απίστευτος (el) ( apísteftos )
Irish: dochreidte
Italian: incredibile (it)
Japanese: ありえない ( arienai ) , 飛躍しすぎている ( hiyaku shisugite iru ) , 信じられない ( shinjirarenai )
Latin: incrēdibilis (la)
Macedonian: неверојатен ( neverojaten )
Manx: neuchredjallagh , anchredjallagh
Norwegian:
Bokmål: utrolig , utrulig
Nynorsk: utruleg , utrulig
Occitan: incredible (oc)
Plautdietsch: onjleeflich
Polish: niewiarygodny (pl)
Portuguese: inacreditável (pt) , incredível
Romanian: incredibil (ro)
Russian: невероя́тный (ru) ( neverojátnyj ) , неимове́рный (ru) ( neimovérnyj )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: невjероjатан , невероjатан , невjероватан , невероватан
Roman: nevjerojatan (sh) , neverojatan , nevjerovatan , neverovatan (sh)
Slovak: neuveriteľný
Slovene: neverjeten
Spanish: increíble (es)
Swedish: otrolig (sv)
Turkish: inanılmaz (tr)
Ukrainian: неймові́рний ( nejmovírnyj )
Vietnamese: khó tin
Welsh: anhygoel
amazing
Bulgarian: поразителен (bg) ( porazitelen )
Catalan: increïble (ca)
Dutch: ongelofelijk (nl)
Esperanto: eksterodinara
Finnish: uskomaton (fi)
French: incroyable (fr) , incrédible (fr) ( anglicism, uncommon )
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: erstaunlich (de) , verblüffend (de) , verwunderlich (de)
Greek: απίστευτος (el) m ( apísteftos )
Irish: dochreidte
Italian: incredibile (it)
Japanese: 驚異的な (ja) ( kyōiteki na )
Latin: incrēdibilis (la)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: utrolig , utrulig
Nynorsk: utruleg , utrulig
Portuguese: incrível (pt)
Romanian: incredibil (ro)
Russian: потряса́ющий (ru) ( potrjasájuščij ) , потря́сный (ru) ( potrjásnyj ) , изуми́тельный (ru) ( izumítelʹnyj ) , порази́тельный (ru) ( porazítelʹnyj ) , ошеломи́тельный (ru) ( ošelomítelʹnyj )
Spanish: increíble (es)
Swedish: otrolig (sv)
Turkish: şaşırtıcı (tr)
marvellous
Bulgarian: чудесен (bg) ( čudesen )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 驚人的 / 惊人的 (zh) ( jīngrén de ) , 了不起 (zh) ( liǎobùqǐ )
Esperanto: mirinda
Finnish: uskomaton (fi)
French: incroyable (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: fabelhaft (de) , herrlich (de) , wunderbar (de)
Irish: dochreidte
Japanese: 素晴らしい (ja) ( subarashii )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: utrolig , utrulig , fantastisk (no)
Nynorsk: utruleg , utrulig , fantastisk
Portuguese: incrível (pt)
Romanian: incredibil (ro)
Russian: потряса́ющий (ru) ( potrjasájuščij ) , потря́сный (ru) ( potrjásnyj ) , изуми́тельный (ru) ( izumítelʹnyj ) , порази́тельный (ru) ( porazítelʹnyj ) , ошеломи́тельный (ru) ( ošelomítelʹnyj ) , чуде́сный (ru) ( čudésnyj ) , удиви́тельный (ru) ( udivítelʹnyj ) , неимове́рный (ru) ( neimovérnyj )
Spanish: maravilloso (es) , increíble (es)
Turkish: fevkalade (tr) , olağanüstü (tr)
Ukrainian: неймові́рний ( nejmovírnyj )