1300-1400Old French, Medieval Latincredentia, from Latincredere ‘to believe, trust, give to someone to keep safe’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
But they don't get any credence here and several of our most respected lawyers, doctors and public servants are black.
Looking at him, I can see why the ignorant give credence to the Evil Eye.
Political economy and class perspectives on urban sociology lend little credence to this type of analysis.
There were many other priests out there, their presence giving credence to the deception.
These debates lend credence to the view that the southern states would not have ratified the Constitution without the proslavery compromises.
They ask: Why should I give credence to a life that has imposed barriers on me?
We give them greater credence if we allow them to be grouped with other less controversial policies.
What empirical evidence is there that might persuade us to give credence to this sharp and absolute distinction?
Collocations
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY►give credence to something
(=to believe or accept something as true) I don’t give any credence to these rumors.
►gain credence
(=to become more widely accepted or believed) His ideas quickly gained credence among economists.
►lend credence to something
(=to make something more believable) The DNA results lend credence to Hausmann’s claims of innocence.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB►gain
· Techniques that can not readily be proven analytically are unlikely to gain much engineering credence.
►give
· But the London office checked it out and confirmed that the sheer secrecy of the Bedford police gave credence to the story.· What empirical evidence is there that might persuade us to give credence to this sharp and absolute distinction?· In trying to negotiate we must give considerable credence to the particular problem of the most difficult areas.· We give them greater credence if we allow them to be grouped with other less controversial policies.· There were many other priests out there, their presence giving credence to the deception.· By not confronting its opponents' lies when and wherever uttered, it gave them credence.· The Church of S. Theodora originally belonged to a monastery; large cisterns found in the vicinity give credence to this theory.· How often in the past have I not given due credence to relatives' statements of how bad the client was?
►lend
· The absence of military protection for the abolitionists in Alton lends credence to legal indifference that bound the country at this time.· It lends credence to the kinds of beliefs and fears that make victims of all who hold them.· These debates lend credence to the view that the southern states would not have ratified the Constitution without the proslavery compromises.
formal the acceptance of something as truegive credence to something (=to believe or accept something as true) I don’t give any credence to these rumors.gain credence (=to become more widely accepted or believed) His ideas quickly gained credence among economists.lend credence to something (=to make something more believable) The DNA results lend credence to Hausmann’s claims of innocence.