believable

UK/bɪˈliːvəbl̩/US/bɪˈliːvəbl̩/

adjectiveB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,079 of 15,258neutral

Believable means sounding true enough to be accepted. A believable story, hardly believable, a believable character.

In fiction it is the standard praise for a character who behaves consistently, and it is a different thing from realistic. Believable and credible mean the same, with credible sounding more formal. Neither says the thing is actually true.

Definitions of believable

1adjectivebelievableSounding true enough to be accepted.B1+
“The actor made the character so believable that you forgot he was acting.”

believable is a quality.

Where it comes from

Believe plus -able, from Old English geliefan, to hold dear or trust.

Middle English
bilevable
English, today
believable

From Middle English bilevable. From Middle English bilevable, beleevable, equivalent to believe + able.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

believable in the wild

Actors must deliver dialogue and action in a believable way, so as to persuade the audience that the film is real life.
Narrative film
Although the series was not quite as popular as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton has been called a more complex and believable role model for girls.
Judy Bolton Series
Dialogue plays a role in making characters in literature more believable to the reader, by allowing them to voice their internal thoughts.
Dialogue in writing
Kelly rejected Maxwell's idea because he felt that the neo-soul singer wouldn't have been believable singing a song from the perspective of a prison inmate.
Fortunate (song)
Wodehouse, between 1915 and 1918 that were believable, humorous and musically innovative, and integrated their songs with their stories.
Princess Theatre (New York City, 1913–1955)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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