credibly

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English

Etymology

From credible +‎ -ly.

Adverb

credibly (comparative more credibly, superlative most credibly)

  1. In a credible manner; believably.
    A suitor can credibly signal his love for a woman by offering her an expensive and extravagant gift.
    He waa in a position to commit to a credibly conservative monetary policy.
  2. Used to report the speaker's assessment of the credibility of a reported statement
    • 1989, The New York Times Magazine[1], page 38:
      He [Mayor Koch] says he better understands the limits of government; less credibly, he says he has mellowed.
    • 1997, Vanity Fair[2], volume 60, page 95:
      His deep-set eyes and expression of general despair lend him a look of utter dissolution—very credibly, he is dying from sexual desire.
    • 2003, Stanley Wells, Shakespeare Survey[3], number 51, page 132:
      Perhaps less credibly she assumes that, as a necessary consequence of this move from the public space of the theatre to the private space of the closet, 'the emphasis shifted to subjective interpretation'
    • 2009, Anthony Everitt, Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome[4], page 289:
      In his eyes, if he allowed things to continue as before, he would be little better than a male prostitute. All too credibly, he could imagine himself aging into the superannuated gigolo of ]uvenal's satire.
    • 2013, Frank W. Brecher, American Diplomacy and the Israeli War of Independence[5], page 171:
      Perhaps, and more credibly, he meant that, had he been at the department, he would have ensured that the president expressly cleared that instruction.

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Translations