incredulity

Attested since 1430. From Middle English incredulite, from Old French incredulité, from Late Latin incredulitas, from Latin incredulus (“unbelieving”) + -itas (“-ity”), equivalent to incredulous +‎ -ity.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnkɹɪˈdjuːlɪti/

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incredulity (usually uncountable, plural incredulities)

1. Unwillingness or inability to believe; doubt about the truth or verisimilitude of something; disbelief.
   • 1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 24, in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:

     Wide went her eyes in wonder and incredulity, as she beheld this seeming apparition risen from the dead.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.

   • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122:

     At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.

2. (rare) Religious disbelief, lack of faith.

• incredulousness

• credulity

• incredibility
• incredulous