What's the difference between incredulous and sceptical?

Incredulous


Definition:

  • (a.) Not credulous; indisposed to admit or accept that which is related as true, skeptical; unbelieving.
  • (a.) Indicating, or caused by, disbelief or incredulity.
  • (a.) Incredible; not easy to be believed.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) No,” Bale says, laughing and looking almost incredulous.
  • (2) The fact that something very similar happened last year at Wimbledon only fractionally lessens the incredulity at another surprise result.
  • (3) Three years ago, I would have watched these news reports with incredulity.
  • (4) When the White House sent a private message to Tehran last week about its so-called "red lines" in the Strait of Hormuz, the reaction was both puzzled and incredulous.
  • (5) Penetrating questions – probably repeated until he gets an answer – quickfire debate and incredulous facial expressions are likely to be the order of the day.
  • (6) Several delegates were incredulous at claims by the banks that they were ramping up lending to small businesses.
  • (7) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian For women, such as Sophie, 29, working in the Republic of Ireland but originally from France, the experience is a logistical headache which makes her incredulous about Ireland’s attitude towards women’s rights.
  • (8) This year at least some of the people who think going to the police is a tidy solution may have learned that the police can be incredulous, unresponsive, abusive, or ineffective.
  • (9) - now our stock response to anything met with the slightest incredulity."
  • (10) He did Bright Young Things (2003), directed by Stephen Fry; he played President Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003); he was an incredulous Priam in Troy (2004) and Casanova as an old man in the 2005 mini-series starring David Tennant.
  • (11) When I misunderstand a remark about Andrew Mitchell and ask if he felt sorry for the ex-chief whip for losing his job, I get a look of incredulity.
  • (12) The faces here, in contrast to those at the window of remembrance, are jubilant, incredulous.
  • (13) Some will betray flickers of relief or ecstatic incredulity; other faces drop.
  • (14) His T-shirt is soon soaked with sweat and he looks incredulous when told he has sparred 10 rounds.
  • (15) A few days after an incredulous judge threw out the case against Colin Stagg in 1994, I saw the police descend into denial.
  • (16) Remember that two school shooters, Dustin Pierce and Michael Carneal, expressed incredulity at what they had done only moments later.
  • (17) The mere fact that many of the standoff defendants entered into plea deals rather than go to trial suggests that they and their attorneys also felt the government had a very strong case.” There was similar incredulity at the not guilty verdicts in Fort Smith in 1988, as analysts pondered how the government could possibly lose a case against leaders and foot soldiers of the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, among other organizations, some of whom had previously been proven to have robbed banks and armored trucks, killed people, and openly called for the violent overthrow of the government.
  • (18) You think we did this ourselves?” one asked incredulously, pointing at a line of bullet holes.
  • (19) one asked incredulously, pointing at a line of bullet holes.
  • (20) Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said she remained incredulous that no one in the SNP knew about the case before now.

Sceptical


Definition:

  • () Alt. of Scepticism

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Occasional vomits occur postoperatively in over half of patients but we are sceptical of the value of graded postoperative feeding regimens.
  • (2) It ended with a withering putdown: “I’m leaving Downing Street 10 times more sceptical than I was before ,” Juncker told his host.
  • (3) David Rothkopf, writing in Foreign Policy, is similarly sceptical. "
  • (4) A government-commissioned review into the RET, headed by the businessman and climate change sceptic Dick Warburton, concluded that while it has largely achieved its aims and helped create jobs in clean energy, it should be either wound back or cut off entirely.
  • (5) But she has repeatedly said she doesn't want the job and her hardline attitude to human rights abuses in her current job as secretary of state is said to have made the Chinese sceptical about her candidacy.
  • (6) My scepticism has not vanished overnight and I cannot help but still be haunted by certain fears.
  • (7) We had a brief conversation and I said to him he was acting from high honour here, and I said how sorry I was this wasn’t happening in three or four years time..because Barry is a man of honour..and I think he is a very capable premier and I think he has been missed.” Asked whether he had ever met Nick di Girolamo , the prime minister said both he and Mr di Girolamo attended a lot of functions, and “I don’t for a moment say I have never met him but I don’t recall it.” But former federal Liberal MP Ross Cameron sounded much more sceptical about O’Farrell’s memory lapse when speaking to Sky News.
  • (8) And despite the initial scepticism, now completely gone says Henry, DCA's transparency and accountability systems and mechanisms are now "some of the most convincing tools to fundraising, credibility and brand recognition" and is used by face-to-face fundraisers, volunteers and PR to promote the organisation.
  • (9) Kerry warned a sceptical and sometimes raucous panel that failing to strike Syria would embolden al-Qaida and raise to 100% the chances that Assad would use chemical weapons again.
  • (10) Anette Oien, too, was "deeply sceptical" to start with.
  • (11) Few of us will have reliable memories from before three or four years of age, and recollections from before that time need to be treated with scepticism.
  • (12) His initial exposure to leftist ideas was via the underground hippy press which provided him "with a certain amount of scepticism".
  • (13) He thinks Obama himself is sceptical of the current surge; in fact he thinks many of the politicians who back it are only really doing so because they want a fast exit from Afghanistan.
  • (14) Sceptics said the US protections for journalists would make such a prosecution difficult and also cited pragmatic issues, such as the difficulty of extraditing Assange, an Australian.
  • (15) Sceptics have queried whether such vast sums are realistic for an unstable nation that is battling terror groups and has struggled to attract significant foreign investment.
  • (16) But Clive Cowdery, who founded the company as Resolution Group in 2009, is understood to have been sceptical about such a go-it-alone strategy and preferred a sale on the right terms.
  • (17) Record numbers of shoppers hit the stores this weekend for the Thanksgiving Day sales but retail experts are sceptical that the trend can continue into a bumper Monday for online retailers.
  • (18) The middle term attracts the most scepticism, based on the presumption that just because your field isn't professionally accredited, you do not know anything and you can't process information.
  • (19) Smith, a climate change sceptic who has also subpoenaed government scientists’ communications, has accused the attorney generals of a political witch-hunt and for causing a “chilling impact on scientific research and development”.
  • (20) Glitzy online lectures, or fancy learning technologies, are difficult to reconcile with this fundamental scepticism.