different between befuddlement vs incredulity

English

Etymology

befuddle +? -ment

Noun

befuddlement (countable and uncountable, plural befuddlements)

1. The state of being befuddled.
   • 1907, Algernon Blackwood, “Max Hensig—Bacteriologist and Murderer” Chapter 4, in The Listener and Other Stories, New York: Knopf, 1917, p. 105,^[1]

     It was, of course, an effect of hypnotism, he remembered thinking, vaguely through the befuddlement of his drink—this culminating effect of an evil and remorseless personality acting upon one that was diseased and extra receptive.

   • 1985, Don DeLillo, White Noise, Penguin, 1986, Part I, Chapter 21, p. 162,^[2]

     A change came over his wind-beaten face, a slight befuddlement, the shock of some minor fact jarred loose.

Synonyms

• bafflement
• bewilderment
• confusion
• perplexity
• puzzlement

Translations

English

Etymology

Attested since 1430. Borrowed from Old French incredulité, from Late Latin incredulitas, from Latin incredulus (“unbelieving”) + -itas (“-ity”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nk???dju?l?ti/

Noun

incredulity (usually uncountable, plural incredulities)

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

     Wide went her eyes in wonder and incredulity, as she beheld this seeming apparition risen from the dead.
2. (rare) Religious disbelief, lack of faith.

Synonyms

• incredulousness

Antonyms

• credulity

Related terms

• incredibility
• incredulous

Translations