核心畫面

Think of it as a balance held in other people's minds: how far they are willing to take your word as true. Every kept promise adds to it; one broken one takes a lot away.

「別人願不願意把你的話當真」的那份存量:它不在你身上,而是在聽的人心裡累積或流失。你每一次說到做到,這份存量就多一點更多收起「別人願不願意把你的話當真」的那份存量:它不在你身上,而是在聽的人心裡累積或流失。你每一次說到做到,這份存量就多一點;一次被抓到說謊、或說一套做一套,就掉一大塊,而且補回來很慢。credibility 講的不是你誠不誠實(那是 honesty),也不是你受不受歡迎(那是 popularity),而是「你說的東西,別人敢不敢相信」。

From the word’s history

From Latin credere ("to believe") — the same root as credit, credo, and incredible. Credit is trust with money; credibility is trust with words.

credibility 來自拉丁 credere(相信),和 credit(信用)、credo(信條)、incredible(難以相信)同一家。這個親戚關係很有用:credit 是別人願意先借錢給你,credibility 是別人願意先相信你的話——兩個都是「別人對你的信任額度」,都要靠紀錄慢慢累積,也都可能一夕透支。

Wiktionary, "credibility" — from French crédibilité, from Medieval Latin credibilitas, from Latin credibilis (credere "to believe") + -ity.

原始詞典資料2 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

credibilitynoun/kɹɛd.əˈbɪ.ɫɪ.ti/

  • 1

    A reputation impacting one's ability to be believed.

    • After weeks of blowing smoke, her credibility with me was next to nil.
    • The inability of Trump's own spokespeople to speak authoritatively on the president's thinking and actions -- a challenge even Trump himself has acknowledged -- has left the White House with an enormous credibility gap, and has tarnished the reputations of many of its most visible spokespeople.
  • 2

    lawA believability of statements by a witness, as measured by whether the testimony is probable or improbable when judged by common experience.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。