believe

English Online Dictionary. What means believe‎? What does believe mean?

English

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”).

The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /bɪˈliːv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈliv/, /bi-/, /bə-/
• Homophone: beleave
• Hyphenation: be‧lieve
• Rhymes: -iːv

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

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

3. (intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
4. (transitive) To opine, think, reckon.
6. [with in]
   1. To ascribe existence to.

   2. To believe that (something) is right or desirable.
   3. To have confidence in the ability or power of.

Usage notes

• The direct transitive sense and the prepositionally transitive sense 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

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• belief
• disbelief

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: bribi, bri
  • Aukan: biibi
  • Saramaccan: biíbi

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

believe

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of believen

Anagrams

• beviele