[syn: doubt, dubiousness, doubtfulness, question]
VERB (2)
1. consider unlikely or have doubts about;
- Example: "I doubt that she will accept his proposal of marriage"
2. lack confidence in or have doubts about;
- Example: "I doubt these reports"
- Example: "I suspect her true motives"
- Example: "she distrusts her stepmother"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Doubt \Doubt\ (dout), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Doubted; p. pr. &
vb. n. Doubting.] [OE. duten, douten, OF. duter, doter,
douter, F. douter, fr. L. dubitare; akin to dubius doubtful.
See Dubious.]
1. To waver in opinion or judgment; to be in uncertainty as
to belief respecting anything; to hesitate in belief; to
be undecided as to the truth of the negative or the
affirmative proposition; to b e undetermined.
[1913 Webster]
Even in matters divine, concerning some things, we
may lawfully doubt, and suspend our judgment.
--Hooker.
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To try your love and make you doubt of mine.
--Dryden.
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2. To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive. [Obs.]
Syn: To waver; vacillate; fluctuate; hesitate; demur;
scruple; question.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Doubt \Doubt\, v. t.
1. To question or hold questionable; to withhold assent to;
to hesitate to believe, or to be inclined not to believe;
to withhold confidence from; to distrust; as, I have heard
the story, but I doubt the truth of it.
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To admire superior sense, and doubt their own!
--Pope.
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I doubt not that however changed, you keep
So much of what is graceful. --Tennyson.
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To doubt not but.
I do not doubt but I have been to blame. --Dryden.
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We doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed on our way. --Shak.
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Note: That is, we have no doubt to prevent us from believing,
etc. (or notwithstanding all that may be said to the
contrary) -- but having a preventive sense, after verbs
of "doubting" and "denying" that convey a notion of
hindrance. --E. A. Abbott.
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2. To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive of. [Obs.]
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Edmond [was a] good man and doubted God. --R. of
Gloucester.
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I doubt some foul play. --Shak.
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That I of doubted danger had no fear. --Spenser.
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3. To fill with fear; to affright. [Obs.]
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The virtues of the valiant Caratach
More doubt me than all Britain. --Beau. & Fl.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Doubt \Doubt\, n. [OE. dute, doute, F. doute, fr. douter to
doubt. See Doubt, v. i.]
1. A fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or
evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state
of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the
truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation.
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Doubt is the beginning and the end of our efforts to
know. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
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Doubt, in order to be operative in requiring an
acquittal, is not the want of perfect certainty
(which can never exist in any question of fact) but
a defect of proof preventing a reasonable assurance
of quilt. --Wharton.
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2. Uncertainty of condition.
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Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee. --Deut.
xxviii. 66.
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3. Suspicion; fear; apprehension; dread. [Obs.]
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I stand in doubt of you. --Gal. iv. 20.
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Nor slack her threatful hand for danger's doubt.
--Spenser.
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4. Difficulty expressed or urged for solution; point
unsettled; objection.
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To every doubt your answer is the same. --Blackmore.
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No doubt, undoubtedly; without doubt.
Out of doubt, beyond doubt. [Obs.] --Spenser.
Syn: Uncertainty; hesitation; suspense; indecision;
irresolution; distrust; suspicion; scruple; perplexity;
ambiguity; skepticism.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
doubt
n 1: the state of being unsure of something [syn: doubt,
uncertainty, incertitude, dubiety, doubtfulness,
dubiousness] [ant: certainty]
2: uncertainty about the truth or factuality or existence of
something; "the dubiousness of his claim"; "there is no
question about the validity of the enterprise" [syn: doubt,
dubiousness, doubtfulness, question]
v 1: consider unlikely or have doubts about; "I doubt that she
will accept his proposal of marriage"
2: lack confidence in or have doubts about; "I doubt these
reports"; "I suspect her true motives"; "she distrusts her
stepmother"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "doubt":
Humism, Pyrrhonism, agnosticism, agonize over, all-overs, anxiety,
apprehension, apprehensiveness, awake a doubt, be at sea,
be diffident, be doubtful, be dubious, be possessive, be skeptical,
be uncertain, beat about, call in question, challenge, concern,
confutability, contest, contestability, controvertibility,
deniability, diffidence, disbelief, disbelieve, discredit,
disputability, dispute, disquiet, distrust, distrustfulness,
doubtful, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, dubitancy, fear,
feel unsure, flounder, fluctuate, foreboding,
greet with skepticism, grope, half believe, half-belief,
harbor suspicions, have reservations, hesitate, hesitation,
in doubt, incertitude, incredulity, irresolution, leeriness,
misdoubt, misgive, misgiving, mistrust, mistrustfulness,
puzzle over, qualm, qualmishness, query, question,
questionableness, raise a question, refutability, reservations,
scepticism, scoff, scoffing, scruple, scrupulousness, self-doubt,
shadow of doubt, skepticalness, skepticism, smell a rat, suspect,
suspicion, suspiciousness, thrash about, throw doubt upon,
total skepticism, treat with reserve, unbelief, uncertainty,
vacillate, wariness, waver, wonder, wonder whether, worry
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
DOUBT. The uncertainty which exists in relation to a fact, a proposition, or
other thing; or it is an equipoise of the mind arising from an equality of
contrary reasons. Ayl. Pand. 121.
2. The embarrassing position of a judge is that of being in doubt, and
it is frequently the lot of the wisest and most enlightened to be in this
condition, those who have little or no experience usually find no difficulty
in deciding the most, problematical questions.
3. Some rules, not always infallible, have been adopted in doubtful
cases, in order to arrive at the truth. 1. In civil cases, the doubt ought
to operate against him, who having it in his power to prove facts to remove
the doubt, has neglected to do so. In cases of fraud when there is a doubt,
the presumption of innocence (q.v.) ought to remove it. 2. In criminal
cases, whenever a reasonable doubt exists as to the guilt of the accused
that doubt ought to operate in his favor. In such cases, particularly, when
the liberty, honor or life of an individual is at stake, the evidence to
convict ought to be clear, and devoid of all reasonable doubt. See Best on
Pres. Sec. 195; Wils. on Cir. Ev. 26; Theory of Presumptive Proof, 64; 33
How. St. Tr. 506; Burnett, Cr. Law of Scotl. 522; 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 1
D'Aguesseau, Oeuvres, vol. xiii. p. 242; Domat, liv. 3, tit. 6.
4. No judge is presumed to have any doubt on a question of law, and he
cannot therefore refuse to give a judgment on that account. 9 M. R. 355;
Merlin, Repert. h.t.; Ayliffe's Pand. b. 2, t. 17; Dig. lib. 34, t. 5;
Code, lib. 6, t. 38. Indeed, in some countries; in China, for example,
ignorance of the law in a judge is punishable with blows. Penal Laws of
China, B. 2, s. 61.