Word definition: believe

Etimology


From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- +‎ leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

verb


believe (third-person singular simple present believes, present participle believing, simple past and past participle believed)

(transitive) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).

(transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth.

(intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.

(transitive) To opine, think, reckon.

(transitive with in)

Examples


Synonym: understand

If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.

I believe there are faeries.

FOꝛaſmuch as many haue taken in hande to ſet fooꝛth in oꝛder a declaration of thoſe things which are most ſurely beleeued among vs […]

Many persons believe that the so-called "dollar of the daddies," weighing 412½ grains , having a ratio to gold of "16 to 1" in value when first coined, was the original dollar of the Constitution.

[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.

Synonyms: trust, Adam and Eve

Why did I ever believe you?

After that night in the church, I believed.

[N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]

Do you think this is good? —Hmm, I believe it's okay.

“Some people believe him charismatic,” Van Assen told me. “I am less sensitive to it.”

Do you believe in God / the Easter Bunny / ghosts?

Since I don't believe in reincarnation, I believe that the only way to eliminate suffering is to die.

I don't believe in sex before marriage.

I don't believe in making my bed.

I'm happy to tell you there is very little in this world that I believe in.

The couple is one of the celebrities who believed in open relationships.

I believe in you, man! You can do it!

I believe in America. America has made my fortune and I raised my daughter in the American fashion.

Ambassador Udina: The other species are scared. They've never faced anything like this before and they don't know what to do. They want us to step forward. They believe in humanity because of you.Ambassador Udina: Your ruthless pursuit of Saren and the geth, your defiance of the Council -- that's what humans are capable of! That's how we can defeat the Reapers!Ambassador Udina: The others will follow us, Shepard. They know we're their only hope. We will have a human Council with a human Chairman.

Related words


antonyms

disbelieve

(to accept as true without certainty): doubt

(to accept someone's telling as true): mistrust, distrust, suspect

related terms

belief

disbelief

Data provided by Wiktionary