believe definition

English believe definition

Alternative forms

• beleeve (obsolete)

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈliːv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈliv/, /bi-/, /bə-/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv
• Homophone: beleave
• Hyphenation: be‧lieve

Verb

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

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

   Synonym: understand

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

   I believe there are faeries.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 1:1:

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

   • 1898 September 1, Alexander E. Outerbridge Jr., “Curiosities of American Coinage”, in Popular Science Monthly‎^[1], volume 53, D. Appleton & Company, page 601:

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

   • 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:

     [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.

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

   Synonyms: trust, (Cockney rhyming slang) Adam and Eve

   Why did I ever believe you?

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

   After that night in the church, I believed.

   • 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, OCLC 55185654, page 40:

     [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]

4. (transitive) To opine, think, reckon.

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

   • 2017 February 1, Stephen Buranyi, quoting Marcel van Assen, “The high-tech war on science fraud”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

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

Antonyms

• disbelieve
• (to accept as true without certainty): doubt
• (to accept someone's telling as true): mistrust, distrust, suspect

Usage notes

• The transitive verb believe and the phrasal verb believe in are similar but can have very different implications.
  • To “believe” someone or something means to accept specific pieces of information as truth: believe the news, believe the lead witness. To “believe a complete stranger” means to accept a stranger's story with little evidence.
  • To “believe in” someone or something means to hold confidence and trust in that person or concept: believe in liberty, believe in God. To “believe in one's fellow man” means to place trust and confidence in mankind.
• Meanings sometimes overlap. To believe in a religious text would also require affirming the truth of at least the major tenets. To believe a religious text might likewise imply placing one's confidence and trust in it, in addition to accepting its statements as facts.
• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Derived terms

Related terms

• belief
• disbelief

Translations

Dutch believe definition

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

believe

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of believen

Anagrams

• beviele