credential

credential, testimonial, recommendation, character, reference mean something presented by one person to another in proof that he is what or who he claims to be.

Credential (usually in the plural credentials) implies material evidence and especially a letter or document indicating that a person (occasionally a thing) is what he claims (or it seems) to be; the term was originally and is still used of the letter from the sovereign or head of one state to another carried by a new envoy or ambassador and formally presented to the sovereign or head of the state in which he is to serve

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an envoy extraordinary from Savoy . . . presented his credentials in the Banqueting House— Macaulay

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The term is often used of a letter presented to show competency or to attest identity, or of statements made or acts performed that serve as proof of what is to follow

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if we turn out to be poor managers of our own affairs, we will have inferior credentials to present abroad—W. O. Douglas

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the putative Professor Moriarty of the fight business, who may or may not die of old age before his credentials as an archfiend are established— Lardner

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these statements I put forward by way of credentials for a comparison which I purpose to make— Grandgent

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Testimonial usually implies a written statement from a person competent to judge the character, qualifications, or merits of another and to testify to his fitness to hold or to fill an office or a position

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six testimonials were received affirming his fitness for the ministry

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selected what seemed to me from the testimonials to be the two best men— Crofts

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However, the word is often used as an equivalent of recommendation, a term which implies that the statement comes from one (as a former employer or teacher) who commends a person to the notice of a possible employer

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armed with several recommendations he started out to seek a job

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Character, which in this sense is used chiefly in Great Britain, is the designation given to a statement furnished by a former employer about the qualities and habits of a person as manifested while in his employ

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then came . . . the coachman, the grooms, the sweeper. For each and all of these I had to write characters— John Lang

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Although reference may imply no more than the giving of the name of a person from whom information regarding another may be obtained (as by a possible employer or landlord) it increasingly tends to be employed as a synonym of recommendation or character

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Mrs. Blank told the woman she would let her know when she had examined her references

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she had lost all her references and was afraid to apply for a job

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Analogous words: certification, accreditation, endorsement, sanction (see corresponding verbs at APPROVE)