credo
Americannoun
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credos
plural
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(often initial capital letter) the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed.
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(often initial capital letter) a musical setting of the creed, usually of the Nicene Creed.
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any creed or formula of belief.
- Synonyms:
- philosophy, tenet, doctrine
noun
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the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed
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a musical setting of the Creed
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of credo
1150–1200; Middle English < Latin: literally, I believe; first word of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds in Latin
Explanation
Credo is Latin for, literally, "I believe," and originally meant a particular religious belief. Now it has the far broader meaning of any system of principles that guide a person or group. There's often a faintly jokey air to the word as used today, perhaps in recognition that it once popularly held such a high-minded meaning. A hedonist's credo might be simply "party on," or "enjoy the ride;" an actor's "the show must go on." Politicians have credos, and so too, presumably, do rappers and weather forecasters.
Vocabulary lists containing credo
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Believe It or Not: Cred
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It also updated the principles that make up the “Novo Way,” the company’s longstanding internal credo, to focus on customers, competitiveness and speed.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Glaser’s aesthetic credo for the venue was appropriately grandiose: “A journey to the promised land, an adventure in imagination, the pursuit of the unexpected.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The cover of his book touts his grandfather’s credo of God first and family second.
From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026
Goodbye to the credo: “Rain or shine, I never miss a Sunday morning at church.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
To support this credo, he submitted a goodly number of original drawings and oil paintings.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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Coherent and Credo Technology each fell 13%, Marvell fell 7.8%, ARM Holdings fell 6.7% and Intel lost 6.6%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Analysts believe Credo could potentially be a winner from the AI boom because the company makes the copper cables needed to connect servers.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
Astera Labs provides semiconductor connectivity, Credo offers high-speed data connections, and Marvell works on AI chips for Amazon.
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
The companies’ combined portfolio is expected to drive more than $500 million in optical revenue in fiscal 2027, Credo said.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026
He asked those who promised to say a Pater and the Credo for him to hold up their hands.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Bartholomew Sastrow
Bronner inherited his verbosity and gumption from his grandfather, Emanuel Bronner, who originally crammed all-caps, feel-good credos onto the labels of his soap bottles in the 1940s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
You write that you find seven of the Puritan credos "to be most pervasive and problematic" and you devote a chapter to each.
From Salon ● May 26, 2025
There are credos that both teams have been oft-repeating for the last few days.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2023
Here’s a look at crackpot credos that flourished and foundered in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
After all thy tonsures and chorales, thy credos and sackcloth, wilt thou admit the Evil One in the guise of a melody, in whose chromatic intervals lie dimpled cheek and sunny tress!
From Franz Liszt by James Huneker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.