Here we are, nearly a year after the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hysteria, once again relitigating the dubious allegations against the new Supreme Court justice. And unsurprisingly, this means we must re-engage in debate over just what the word “credible” means when applied to an accusation.

For several weeks last fall, the term “credible” was used abundantly in most major newspapers and online, with partisans insisting, over and over again that the sexual assault accusations against Kavanaugh were “credible,” though none of them ever seemed to stop and consider what the word actually means.