believe 
be·lieve (bə lēv′, bē-)
transitive verb believed -·lieved′, believing -·liev′·ing
- to take as true, real, etc.
- to have confidence in a statement or promise of (another person)
- to suppose or think
Etymology: ME bileven < bi, be- + -leven, contr. < ileven < OE geliefan < IE base *leubh-, to like, desire > love, lief, L libido
intransitive verb
- to have trust or confidence (in) as being true, real, good, etc.
- to have religious faith
- to suppose or think
Related Forms:
- believable be·liev′·able adjective
- believability be·liev′·abil′·ity noun
- believably be·liev′·ably adverb
- believer be·liev′er noun
believe
v.
To accept as true
accept, hold, think, conclude, have faith, be convinced, be certain, be confident, deem, understand, regard, take at one's word, consider, affirm, maintain, be of the opinion, postulate, opine, conceive, give credence to, credit, have no doubt, feel sure, rest assured, swear by, take one's word for, cherish a belief, nurture a belief, keep the faith, be credulous, entertain a belief, hold a belief, attach some weight to, take stock in, put stock in, take on faith, take as gospel, doubt not, buy*, swallow*. * To assume
Object
- everyone: Do you believe that everyone you know has been affected by the Second World War?
- hype: I can't believe the hype about this unremarkable film about a remarkable story.
- anything: I believe anything sung " musically " , will almost always encourage a " head tone " , quite naturally.
- anyone: However hard it is to believe, anyone who wished to attend could do so.
- truth: Do you believe that truth is stranger than fiction?
Preposition: that
- government: Those who do not believe that the British Government is capable of such infamy may be tempted to vent their anger on the messenger.
- person: We believe that no person has the right to end life.
Modifying Another Word
- firmly: He is also a proud man who firmly believes he can engineer happiness for his family by sheltering them from his own emotions.
- strongly: It is possible to forget even things you strongly believe in.
Used with why or when
- that: We were determined to reach a fair settlement for the taxpayer, and I believe that has now been achieved.
- what: You won't believe what I'll do to make my upcoming book a best seller.
- when: Duty faith tries to lay on men an obligation to believe when they cannot, and a warrant to believe what they know not.
Preposition: in
- resurrection: Whether or not you believe in an after life, why might people want to believe in resurrection?
- evolution: However, I can't believe in an intelligent designer or creator, so I'll have to believe in evolution.
- freedom: Do you believe in freedom of speech and contract, and oppose the race laws because they abridge this freedom?
- importance: B.U.T. believes in the importance of working with our customers so that they can obtain the performance that is expected from the B.U.T. turkey.
- devil: You then say, " but you can't believe in an objective devil - a real supernatural being with mind and purpose!
- faith: We may disclose user information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Esto peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but more boldly believe and rejoice in Christ.
By education most have been misled; So they believe, because they so were bred. The priest continues what the nurse began, And thus the child imposes on the man.
C'est bon pour les hommes de croire aux ide¤ es et de mourir pour elles. It isgood for people to believe in ideas and die for them.
I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories.
Experto credite. Believe one who has experienced it.
We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe.
God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
esta¤ dema¤ s decirte que a esta altura no creo en predicadores ni en generales ni en las nalgas de miss universo ni en el arrepentimiento de los verdugos ni en el catecismo del confort ni en el flaco perdo¤ n de dios. It's not useless to tell you that, at this stage, I don't believe in preachers or generals or in Miss Universe's buttocks or in the executioner's repentance or in the catechism of comfort or in God's slim forgiving.
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
The best that an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountain top where few have been, where few can follow, and where few will consent to believe that he has been.
For those who believe in God no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God no explanation is possible.
'I don't know they're true,' he said.'I believe them because it's fun to believe them.'
If you believe that, you'll believe anything.
If you don't believe it, you won't understand it.
I always divide people into two groups. Those who live by what they know to be a lie, and those who live by what they believe, falsely, to be the truth.
The difficulty with humorists is that they will mix what they believe with what they don't; whichever seems likelier to win an effect.
Never believe what you cannot doubt.
I will never believe again that the sea was ever loved by anyone whose life was married to it.
There are those who believe Black people possess the secret of joyand that it is this which will sustain them through any spiritual or moral or physical devastation.
Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.
We listen to others to discover what we ourselves believe.
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Men are nearlyalways willing to believe what they wish.
Browse dictionary entries near believe
- ‹ believably
- ‹ believable
- ‹ believability
- ‹ belier
- ‹ belief
- ‹ belied
- ‹ belie
- ‹ Belial
- ‹ Belgravian
- ‹ Belgravia
- believe in ›
- believed ›
- believer ›
- believing ›
- belike ›
- Belinda ›
- Belisarius ›
- belittle ›
- belittled ›
- belittlement ›
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