CREDENCE, noun [See Creed.] 1. Belief; credit; reliance of the mind on evidence of facts derived from other sources than personal knowledge, as from the testimony of others. We give credence to a historian of unsuspected integrity, or to a story which is related by a man of known veracity. 2. That which gives a claim to credit, belief or confidence; as a letter of credence which is intended to commend the bearer to the confidence of a third person.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI