credulousadj.n.
/ˈkrɛdjᵿləs/, /ˈkrɛdʒᵿləs/, U.S. /ˈkrɛdʒələs/ A. adj.
1. Ready, willing, or inclined to believe.Now rare in appreciative sense or positive contexts (see sense A. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > [adjective] > inclined to believe
crediblec1425
credulous1553
1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. vi. f. 107v Muche more ought men to be credulous [L. credulos] when it touched the suretie of a kynges person, in whiche ease it ought to be examined though it be of small weight.
1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature f. 98 Our natures for the most part are more credulous of such shadowed things.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. ii. 68 If he be credulous, and trust my tale. View more context for this quotation
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xiii. 364 I..advised him not to be too credulous of the Generals promises.
1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind xviii. 285 Some Persons have been unreasonably credulous.
1799 R. R. Livingston in Trans. Soc. Promotion Useful Information (1801) 355 Finding no one sufficiently credulous to reduce my theory to practice, I at length set about the work myself.
1833 Amer. Monthly Rev. Apr. 264 Credulous enough he is for poetry, but altogether too credulous for natural history; so credulous, that this quality actually seems at war with itself; believing all things, and yet asserting what destroys this belief.
1881 University Pulpit 2 Mar. (Cambridge Review Suppl.) p. l/1 It is credulous of bad motives, sinister designs, a low level of morality on the part of opponents.
1906 A. Austin Garden that I Love (new ed.) 89 Veronica is sceptical and pessimistic. I am credulous and sanguine; and so I mean to give a number of hardy climbing roses a chance.
1920 H. Carrington Your Psychic Powers & how to develop Them xxxvii. 313 First of all, do not be too credulous of the phenomena you receive and accept.
2008 R. Raiswell in S. J. Harris & B. L. Grigsby Misconceptions about Middle Ages 127 The danger in this conception of the universe lies not in being too credulous; it lies in not being credulous enough.
2. Too ready or willing to believe; inclined to believe on weak or insufficient grounds. (Now the usual sense.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > belief, trust, confidence > over-readiness to believe, credulity > [adjective]
lightc1475
light-eareda1530
credulous1567
over-credulous1579
credulent1584
well-believing1620
sequacious1653
implicit1694
ultrafidiana1849
lame1942
1567 G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello Certaine Tragicall Disc. f. 285v Your credulous and rashe iudgement, in admittinge for trothe, the false suggestion of suche as enuyed the vertue of our honeste loue.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Aristotle in Panoplie Epist. 216 Bee not credulous..and light of beleefe.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. i. 43 Thus credulous fooles are caught. View more context for this quotation
1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar in Wks. (1730) I. 81 Seven as arrant imposters as ever deluded the credulous world.
1705 J. Toland Let. 14 Dec. in Coll. Several Pieces (1726) II. 342 Those they had less reason to fear (among which I had the misforfortune to be one) they..branded for Tories among the credulous herd.
1790 T. Monro Ess. Var. Subj. ii. 19 Being deceived by the art of others, or rather duped by his own ignorance, he proceeds to propagate the deceit amongst all who, like credulous people in general, appear fond of being deceived.
a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) III. ii. 111 An ignorant and therefore a credulous age.
1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches I. iii. iv. 322 Well known to be of a credulous turn of mind.
1929 Travel Jan. 26/1 They are the credulous folk who believe in the fiendish didos of the Karkantzari.
1961 L. Mumford City in Hist. xvii. 546 A world of professional illusionists and their credulous victims.
2007 Time Out N.Y. 11 Oct. 168/2 A little girl manages to hoax a credulous nation into believing in fairies in this..story.
3.
a. Believed mistakenly or too readily.
ΚΠ
1610 J. Mason Turke iv. i. sig. G4 O giue my sence some freedome From feare and terror, that I may distinguish Betwixt the credulous rumour of your death, And what I see.
a1630 Faithful Friends (1975) iv. i. 2395 Twas he possest mee, with yor credulous death.
1789 H. Mustafa in tr. Ghulam Husain Khan Sëir Mutaqherin III. 40 (note) Imposition appears on the very face of every one of those miracles, as well as on the face of this very credulous tale.
1858 tr. Pindar in Calcutta Rev. 31 164 Many things are marvellous; and myths, decked out with specious lies, oft lead the credulous rumours of men astray.
1903 Free Thought Mag. Oct. 565 An archeologist wants shovels and diggers and not the credulous myths that hang over the locality.
2010 J. Lule in J. C. Ogden & J. N. Rosen Fame to Infamy 192 Modern society has..replaced those credulous stories and rituals of old with enlightenment, science, and technology.
b. Arising from or indicative of credulity.
ΚΠ
1625 A. Darcie tr. W. Camden Hist. Elizabeth ii. 320 This was not out of a vaine and credulous beliefe.
1649 J. Milton Tenure of Kings 40 That credulous peace which the French Protestants made with Charles the ninth.
1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. x. 190 The credulous superstition of the people.
1785 W. Paley Princ. Moral & Polit. Philos. v. ix. 390 Whilst the infidel..insults over their credulous fears.
c1816 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) IV. 675 A sort of mule breed, with malignity for its male parent, and the credulous lust of gossiping for its dam.
1871 F. W. Farrar Witness of Hist. ii. 57 They were, he said, credulous exaggerations of fortunate coincidences, or superstitious views of a certain medicinal success.
1917 Rotarian Oct. 258/1 If the American people as a people have any one fault which is greater than all others it is a credulous belief in nostrums, medical, social and political.
1997 A. Weeks Paracelsus i. 29 Paracelsus was much less progressive and rather more given to credulous superstitions than Sudhoff had allowed.
B. n.
With the and plural agreement. Credulous people.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > belief, trust, confidence > over-readiness to believe, credulity > [noun] > credulous person
credulous1583
easy weener1604
credulist1616
swallow1625
crediblea1674
camel-swallower1802
gobemouche1818
swallower1821
unphilosopher1829
stiffy1965
1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) sig. Aa.iijv Portending Sothsaings of gospelling Augures..were superstitious collusions to supplant the credulous.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 2 Vncertaine stories, which not only perplexe the hearers, but beget incredulitie, oftentimes amongst the credulous.
1680 E. Borlase Hist. Execrable Irish Rebellion 82 Our men pursued, and killed most of them, but were commanded not to come too near Balintober, where the Credulous were to believe, some had seen beyond the Castle another great Body of Men.
1733 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 629/1 The..regular Surgeon..can scarce get his Bread, whilst these ignorant Rascals impose upon the Publick, ruin the credulous, and live in Plenty.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xvi. 1030 And with vain words the credulous beguiled.
1836 D. Rupp tr. G. S. F. Pfeiffer Voy. & Five Years' Captivity Algiers xxiv. 132 The credulous were the more confirmed in their presumption, because no French vessel arrived at the haven for a fortnight.
1889 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Aug. 171/2 Having enriched herself by enormous fees drawn from the credulous and wealthy, she offered to make her secret public for the sum of £5,000.
1922 D. J. Kavanagh Question of Questions v. 58 No one but the credulous could admit the identity of the supposedly responsive spirits.
1959 R. R. Palmer Age of Democratic Revol. I. v. 113 He had heard much strong talk to the effect that..religion was a system invented by the crafty to dominate the credulous, [etc.].
2006 T. Groot Madman vii. 118 At times Alexander used the belief of the credulous to gain his own advantage.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1553