believe
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (5)believes, believed, believing
- accept as true; take to be true“I believed his report”“We didn't believe his stories from the War”“She believes in spirits”Opposite disbelieveMore general acceptMore specific believe in, trust, understand, buy, swallow
- 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”Synonyms: thinkconsiderconceiveMore general evaluate, pass judgmentMore specific see, think of, feel, rethink, hold, think
- be confident about something“I believe that he will come back from the war”Synonyms: trustMore general expect, anticipate
- follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer“When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too”More specific misbelieve
- credit with veracity“You cannot believe this man”“Should we believe a publication like the National Enquirer?”More general credit
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb to accept that someone is telling the truth
- Spanish
- creer
- French
- croire
- German
- glauben
- Italian
- credere
- Portuguese
- acreditar
- Turkish
- inanmak
- Russian
- ве́рить véritʹ
- Arabic
- صَدَّقَ ṣaddaqa
- Chinese
- 相信 xiāngxìn
- Japanese
- 信じる shinjiru
36 more languages
- Dutch
- geloven
- Polish
- wierzyć
- Swedish
- tro
- Greek
- πιστεύω pistévo
- Korean
- 믿다 mitda
- Indonesian
- percaya
- Vietnamese
- tin
- Hungarian
- hisz
- Portuguese (PT)
- crer
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 相信 xiāngxìn
- Albanian
- besoj
- Breton
- krediñ
- Catalan
- creure
- Corsican
- crede
- Czech
- věřit
- Danish
- tro
- Esperanto
- kredi
- Estonian
- uskuma
- Finnish
- uskoa
- Georgian
- დაჯერება daǯereba
- Hebrew
- הֶאֱמִין he'emín
- Icelandic
- trúa
- Kurdish
- bawer kirin
- Latvian
- ticēt
- Lithuanian
- tikėti
- Malagasy
- mino
- Norwegian
- tro
- Romanian
- crede
- Scottish Gaelic
- creid
- Serbo-Croatian
- vjerovati
- Slovak
- veriť
- Slovenian
- verjeti
- Swahili
- amini
- Walloon
- croere
- Welsh
- credu
- Yiddish
- גלייבן gleybn
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. bileven (with pref. be- for AS. ge-), fr. AS. gelīfan, gelīfan; akin to D. gelooven, OHG. gilouban, G. glauben, OS. gilībian, Goth. galaubjan, and Goth. liubs dear. See Lief, adjective, Leave, noun
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).— John 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.
Synonyms: See Expect.
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.— Henry 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.” Cardinal John Henry 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.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54