credulous
/ˈkrɛdjʊləs
/adjective
Having or showing too great a readiness to believe things: a ceremony staged for credulous tourists...
- That didn't stop the Macedonians claiming it or credulous journalists believing them or readers accepting what they had been told as the truth.
- And no one, apart from the most credulous romantic, believed him.
- But never be so credulous that you just believe everything that you're told.
Synonyms
gullible, naive, impressionable, trusting, over-trusting, over-trustful, exploitable, dupable, deceivable, easily deceived, easily taken in, easily led, unsuspicious, unwary, unguarded, unsceptical, uncritical, unquestioning;
innocent, ingenuous, unworldly, inexperienced, unsophisticated, artless, guileless, green, as green as grass, callow, raw, immature, childlike, wide-eyed, simple, ignorant
informal wet behind the ears, born yesterday
rare incognizant, nescient
Derivatives
credulously
- The onus is on me to prove things, and I wouldn't want people just to sit there and credulously accept everything I do.
- Why is it that we listen credulously with gaping mouths to environmentalists when they talk apocalyptic science-fiction, and ignore them when they are demonstrably right?
- I'm sorry, but I don't buy about 90% of what this writer credulously relates.
credulousness
- A reporter in search of a story has, not for the first time, fallen foul of an excess of enthusiasm, credulousness and someone's idea of a joke.
- Unauditable claims about the scores of millions of dollars the Mardi Gras brings to Sydney survive, I believe, on media credulousness.
- The skepticism, empiricism, and detachment so esteemed by journalists seem worlds away from the awe, mysticism, and credulousness demanded by faith.
Origin
Late 16th century (in the general sense 'inclined to believe'): from Latin credulus (from credere 'believe') + -ous.