incredible

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪŋˈkɹɛdəbəl/ UK /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #1534

Meanings

1

adj
Amazing, wonderful, or extremely good.

Usage: In this sense, incredible expresses strong admiration or amazement. In a different context it can mean too unlikely to believe, so check whether the speaker is praising something or doubting it.

The orchestra gave an incredible performance that brought the crowd to its feet.

I had such an incredible slice of pizza last night.
2

adj
So surprising that it is hard to believe.

They drove at an incredible speed.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · amazing, wonderful, or... awesome unbelievable

2 adj · so surprising that it is... unbelievable noncredible

Word family

Forms incredibleness

Derived forms incredibilityincredibleness

Related forms credibility creed incredibility incredibly

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

incredible speed
A rate of movement or activity that seems astonishingly fast.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Latin incrēdibilis, combining a negative in- with crēdibilis, believable, ultimately from crēdere. Its modern praise sense extends the idea of something being beyond belief.

*ḱerd- Proto-Indo-European incredible Middle English incrēdibilis Latin credere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# incredible

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪŋˈkɹɛdəbəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbəl/
**Frequency rank:** 1534

## Meanings
1. Amazing, wonderful, or extremely good.
2. So surprising that it is hard to believe.

## Usage Notes
- Amazing, wonderful, or extremely good.: In this sense, incredible expresses strong admiration or amazement. In a different context it can mean too unlikely to believe, so check whether the speaker is praising something or doubting it.

## Examples
- The orchestra gave an incredible performance that brought the crowd to its feet.
- I had such an incredible slice of pizza last night.
- They drove at an incredible speed.

## Derived Forms
- incredibility
- incredibleness

## Related Forms
- credibility
- creed
- incredibility
- incredibly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ḱerd-
- Root: incredible
- Root: incrēdibilis
- Root: credere - to believe

## Etymology
From Latin incrēdibilis, combining a negative in- with crēdibilis, believable, ultimately from crēdere. Its modern praise sense extends the idea of something being beyond belief.

## AI Etymology
Incredible comes from Middle English incredible, from Latin incrēdibilis (“that cannot be believed”), from in- (“not”) + crēdibilis (“worthy of belief”), from crēdō (“believe”), equivalent to in- + credible. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. The historical line also includes *ḱerd-.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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