While doing today's 《每日一句汉译英>>, I was pondering whether to use "incredible" or "incredulous", two words I have been having hard time to distinguish, then I googled...
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Incredible vs. incredulous
Something that is difficult to believe is incredible. If you have trouble believing something, you are incredulous. The adjectives were once variants of each other, but they diverged a few centuries ago, and now they are no longer interchangeable.
Examples
These writers use incredible and incredulous correctly:
What we’re seeing is quite incredible because this is the oldest society in the Arab world … [CNN]
David Nabity, one of the leading proponents of the recall, was incredulous that the measure had apparently failed. [New York Times]
… their campaigns are probably over, for all intents, barring an incredible comeback. [Los Angeles Times]
Neighbors were incredulous Bilotto would have a firearm with four kids, let alone an illegal one. [Gothamist]
Although the distinction between incredible and incredulous has been deeply engrained for some time, some writers still use incredulous when they mean incredible—for example:
Last October, after reading what I thought was an incredulous weight loss book, I threw out a challenge to my column readers . . . [Denver Post]
The storyline may sound incredulous but what is more so is that not a single feminist or woman’s aid organisation has balked over it. [New Straits Times]
