credence
\KREED-ns\
noun
1. belief as to the truth of something: to give credence to a claim.
2. something giving a claim to belief or confidence: letter of credence.
Quotes
Only from certain closely confidential friends of Willett and the senior Ward have any clues been gained, and even these are too wildly fantastic for general credence.
-- H. P. Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," Weird Tales, 1941
Origin
Credence shares its origin with word credible in the Latin verb crēdere meaning "to believe." It entered English in the 1300s.
Dictionary.com
