Adjacent Words

Believe definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BELIE'VE, v.t. To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by other circumstances, than personal knowledge. When we believe upon the authority of another, we always put confidence in his veracity.
When we believe upon the authority of reasoning, arguments, or a concurrence of facts and circumstances, we rest our conclusions upon their strength or probability, their agreement with our own experience, etc.
2. To expect or hope with confidence; to trust.
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalms 27.
BELIE'VE, v.i. To have a firm persuasion of any thing. In some cases, to have full persuasion, approaching to certainty; in others, more doubt is implied. It is often followed by in or on, especially in the scriptures. To believe in, is to hold as the object of faith. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." John 14. To believe on, is to trust, to place full confidence in, to rest upon with faith. "To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." John 1. Johnson. But there is no ground for much distinction.
In theology, to believe sometimes expresses a mere assent of the understanding to the truths of the gospel; as in the case of Simon. Acts 8. In others, the word implies, with this assent of the mind, a yielding of the will and affections, accompanied with a humble reliance on Christ for salvation. John
1:12. 3.15.
In popular use and familiar discourse, to believe often expresses an opinion in a vague manner, without a very exact estimate of evidence, noting a mere preponderance of opinion, and is nearly equivalent to think or suppose.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: accept as true; take to be true; "I believed his report"; "We didn't believe his stories from the War"; "She believes in spirits" [ant: disbelieve, discredit]
2: judge or regard; look upon; judge; "I think he is very smart"; "I believe her to be very smart"; "I think that he is her boyfriend"; "The racist conceives such people to be inferior" [syn: think, believe, consider, conceive]
3: be confident about something; "I believe that he will come back from the war" [syn: believe, trust]
4: follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer; "When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too"
5: credit with veracity; "You cannot believe this man"; "Should we believe a publication like the National Enquirer?"

Merriam Webster's

verb (believed; believing) Etymology: Middle English beleven, from Old English bel?fan, from be- + ly?fan, l?fan to allow, believe; akin to Old High German gilouben to believe, Old English l?of dear — more at love Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1. a. to have a firm religious faith b. to accept as true, genuine, or real <ideals we believe in> <believes in ghosts> 2. to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something <believe in exercise> 3. to hold an opinion ; think <I believe so> transitive verb 1. a. to consider to be true or honest <believe the reports> <you wouldn't believe how long it took> b. to accept the word or evidence of <I believe you> <couldn't believe my ears> 2. to hold as an opinion ; suppose <I believe it will rain soon> • believer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. accept as true or as conveying the truth (I believe it; don't believe him; believes what he is told). 2 tr. think, suppose (I believe it's raining; Mr Smith, I believe?). 3 intr. (foll. by in) a have faith in the existence of (believes in God). b have confidence in (a remedy, a person, etc.) (believes in alternative medicine). c have trust in the advisability of (believes in telling the truth). 4 intr. have (esp. religious) faith. Phrases and idioms: believe one's ears (or eyes) accept that what one apparently hears or sees etc. is true. believe it or not colloq. it is true though surprising. make believe (often foll. by that + clause, or to + infin.) pretend (let's make believe that we're young again). would you believe it? colloq. = believe it or not. Derivatives: believable adj. believability n. Etymology: OE belyfan, belefan, with change of prefix f. gelefan f. Gmc: rel. to LIEF

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Believe Be*lieve", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Believed; p. pr. & vb. n. Believing.] [OE. bileven (with pref. be- for AS. ge-), fr. AS. gel?fan, gel?fan; akin to D. gelooven, OHG. gilouban, G. glauben, OS. gil?bian, Goth. galaubjan, and Goth. liubs dear. See Lief, a., Leave, n.] To exercise belief in; to credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of, upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine. Our conqueror (whom I now Of force believe almighty). --Milton. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? --Acts xxvi. 27. Often followed by a dependent clause. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. --Acts viii. 37. Syn: See Expect.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Believe Be*lieve", v. i. 1. To have a firm persuasion, esp. of the truths of religion; to have a persuasion approaching to certainty; to exercise belief or faith. Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. --Mark ix. 24. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. --Rom. x. 10. 2. To think; to suppose. I will not believe so meanly of you. --Fielding. To believe in. (a) To believe that the subject of the thought (if a person or thing) exists, or (if an event) that it has occurred, or will occur; -- as, to believe in the resurrection of the dead. ``She does not believe in Jupiter.'' --J. H. Newman. (b) To believe that the character, abilities, and purposes of a person are worthy of entire confidence; -- especially that his promises are wholly trustworthy. ``Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.'' --John xiv. 1. (c) To believe that the qualities or effects of an action or state are beneficial: as, to believe in sea bathing, or in abstinence from alcoholic beverages. To believe on, to accept implicitly as an object of religious trust or obedience; to have faith in.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(believes, believing, believed) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. If you believe that something is true, you think that it is true, but you are not sure. (FORMAL) Experts believe that the coming drought will be extensive... I believe you have something of mine... The main problem, I believe, lies elsewhere... We believe them to be hidden here in this apartment... 'You've never heard of him?'—'I don't believe so.' = think VERB: V that, V that, V that, V n to-inf, V so/not, also V n adj 2. If you believe someone or if you believe what they say or write, you accept that they are telling the truth. He did not sound as if he believed her... Don't believe what you read in the papers. VERB: V n, V n 3. If you believe in fairies, ghosts, or miracles, you are sure that they exist or happen. If you believe in a god, you are sure of the existence of that god. I don't believe in ghosts... Do you believe in magic? VERB: V in n, V in n, also V 4. If you believe in a way of life or an idea, you are in favour of it because you think it is good or right. He believed in marital fidelity. VERB: V in n 5. If you believe in someone or what they are doing, you have confidence in them and think that they will be successful. If you believe in yourself you can succeed. VERB: V in n 6. Believe is used in expressions such as I can't believe how or it's hard to believe that in order to express surprise, for example because something bad has happened or something very difficult has been achieved. Many officers I spoke to found it hard to believe what was happening around them... VERB: with brd-neg, V wh, also V that [feelings] 7. You can use believe it or not to emphasize that what you have just said is surprising. That's normal, believe it or not. PHRASE: PHR with cl [emphasis] 8. If you say would you believe it, you are emphasizing your surprise about something. And would you believe it, he's younger than me! PHRASE: PHR with cl [emphasis] 9. You can use believe you me to emphasize that what you are saying is true. It's absolutely amazing, believe you me. PHRASE: PHR with cl [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Credit, give credit to, think to be true, give faith to, put faith in, rely upon, make no doubt of, put confidence in, be persuaded, convinced, confident, or sure of, assent to, trust, confide in. II. v. n. 1. Exercise faith, have faith, have a firm persuasion. 2. Think, suppose, conceive, fancy, apprehend, imagine, hold, be of opinion, entertain the idea, take it. See opine.

Moby Thesaurus

accept, accept for gospel, accept implicitly, accredit, admit, allow, assume, be afraid, be certain, be pious, be religious, believe in, believe without reservation, buy, conceive, conclude, confide in, conjecture, consider, credit, daresay, deduce, deem, divine, dream, expect, fancy, fear God, feel, gather, give faith to, grant, have confidence in, have faith, have faith in, hold, hope in, imagine, infer, keep the faith, let, let be, love God, maintain, make believe, opine, place confidence in, place reliance in, prefigure, presume, presuppose, presurmise, pretend, provisionally accept, put faith in, put trust in, receive, reckon, rely on, rely upon, repose confidence in, repose in, repute, rest in, say, sense, set store by, suppose, surmise, suspect, swallow, swear by, take, take for, take for granted, take it, take on faith, take on trust, take stock in, take to be, think, trust, trust in, trust in God, trust to, understand