different between complicit vs credulous

English

Etymology

Back-formation from complicity, most likely, which from French complicité, from complice (“partner, accomplice”), from Latin complex, complicem (“partner”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /k?m?pl?s.?t/
• Rhymes: -?s?t

Adjective

complicit (comparative more complicit, superlative most complicit)

1. Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
   • 1973, Angus Wilson, As If by Magic, Secker and Warburg, p. 177:

     "I confess," and the Englishman turned with a near complicit grin to Hamo, "I have certain vulgar tastes myself."

   • 2005, Larry Dennsion, "Letters," Time, 7 March:

     Khan's sale of nuclear secrets and a complicit Pakistani government have made the world a ticking time bomb.

Synonyms

• complicitous

Derived terms

• complicitly

Related terms

• complicity

Translations

References

• “complicit” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

English

Etymology

Originated in 1576, borrowed from Latin cr?dulus (“that easily believes a thing, credulous”), from cr?d? (“to believe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k??d??l?s/, /k??dj?l?s/

Adjective

credulous (comparative more credulous, superlative most credulous)

1. Excessively ready to believe things; gullible.
   • 1934 George Orwell, Burmese Days:

     "The doctor was a small, black, plump man with fuzzy hair and round, credulous eyes."

2. (obsolete) Believed too readily.

Synonyms

• naive, unworldly
• See also: Thesaurus:gullible

Antonyms

• incredulous
• noncredulous

Derived terms

• credulously
• credulousness

Related terms

Translations

References

• credulous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913. (etymology)