credential
Americannoun
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Usually credentials.
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evidence of authority, status, rights, entitlement to privileges, or the like, usually in written form.
Only those with the proper credentials are admitted.
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Digital Technology. information that identifies an account and keeps it secure, as username and password.
The IT department assigns temporary system credentials to new employees.
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anything that provides the basis for confidence, belief, credit, etc.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
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something that entitles a person to confidence, authority, etc
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(plural) a letter or certificate giving evidence of the bearer's identity or competence
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of credential
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English credencial, from Medieval Latin crēdenti(a); see credence, -al 1
Explanation
A credential is something that’s proof of a claim you make about yourself or your skills. You might earn a credential in computer networking that lets employers know that you’re qualified to do the job. A credential can be a particular qualification that you earn or it can refer more generally to achievements or qualities that you’ve acquired over time. You’ll most often see the word credential used in its plural form: credentials. You typically refer to your credentials to show that you're qualified to do something. Your strong academic credentials might qualify you to work as an assistant at a hip magazine during the summer.
Vocabulary lists containing credential
Believe It or Not: Cred
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The Things They Carried
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Astronauts
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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:
There are so many ethical dilemmas in high school sports that earning a teaching credential or gaining life experiences from participating in sports won’t always provide a clear path on how to proceed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Politico reported that one of its journalists had a credential confiscated by Secret Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Klein similarly reported that her credential had been deactivated, while Politico said Haslett’s badge was confiscated.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
The prize should be large enough to matter, prestigious enough to serve as a public credential for scholars who were right when it was costly to be right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Claytor, who earned a PhD in math from the University of Pennsylvania in 1933, was only the third Negro in the country to obtain the credential.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Open, where the number of credentialed content creators has doubled from last year.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
A traditional "family photo" of officials was taken Monday without Siluanov, and away from credentialed media, as European officials declined to appear in a picture with their Russian counterpart.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
A Tribeca spokesperson said Savetsky was not in the film and was not credentialed by the festival, but was invited to the premiere by the film team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
As part of a highly credentialed startup team that worked on this problem for many years, I saw firsthand how difficult it is to make progress against a cartel that polices its own borders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Identification card: An applicant requesting relief would be referred to a credentialed volunteer relief committee.
From The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons by William Z. Foster
“A coordination gap resulted in the media convoy proceeding before the credentialing process was fully completed,” a Space Launch Delta 30 spokesperson said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
In 2025 the AMA earned $340 million from royalties and credentialing products—nearly two-thirds of its revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
North Carolina’s AI Academy at NC State, built with more than 100 corporate partners, combines university credentialing with applied workplace training.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
The tax bill also expands eligible expenses to include credentialing and licensing programs such coursework or tests to become a fitness trainer, a certified public accountant, or a lawyer.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
He posted a list on X of what he called “press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free Press must wear visible badge Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
As we chopped up the vegetables in a light rain, we talked about all the things we had discussed in his office—John Brown, labor movements, the need to break away from credentialled society.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 15, 2019
Compared with “live scribing,” this system is purportedly more accurate—since the scribes tend to be fully credentialled doctors, not aspiring med students—for the same price or cheaper.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018
The oracular voice of authority is being drowned out by the aggregated voice of the Everyman, the credentialled scholar dethroned by the anonymous Wikipedia contributor.
From Economist ● Apr. 14, 2016
They were credentialled, like Lord Martin Rees, an astrophysicist and the co-founder of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 23, 2015
Trying to save the crew was all that kept me credentialled.
From Nature ● Sep. 4, 2013
Following Friday's ruling, the PPA said in a statement to CBS News that it "celebrates the decision by a federal judge today that the Pentagon's press credentialling policy violated the US Constitution".
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2026
The problem was that those with power were the ones determining how much credentialling was sufficient, making young people feel that they needed a degree, no matter the cost.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 2, 2019
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