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Webster 1913 Edition

Believe

Be-lieve′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Believed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Believing
.]
[OE.
bileven
(with pref.
be-
for AS.
ge-
), fr. AS.
gel[GREEK]fan
,
gel[GREEK]fan
; akin to D.
gelooven
, OHG.
gilouban
, G.
glauben
, OS.
gil[GREEK]bian
, Goth.
galaubjan
, and Goth.
liubs
dear. See
Lief
,
Adj.
,
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).
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.
Syn. – See
Expect
.

Be-lieve′

,
Verb.
I.
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.
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.”
J. H. 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 1828 Edition

Believe

BELIE'VE

,
Verb.
T.
To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by other circumstances, than personal knowledge. When we believe upon the authority of another, we always put confidence in his veracity.
When we believe upon the authority of reasoning, arguments, or a concurrence of facts and circumstances, we rest our conclusions upon their strength or probability, their agreement with our own experience, &c.
2.
To expect or hope with confidence; to trust.
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Ps.27.

BELIE'VE

,
Verb.
I.
To have a firm persuasion of any thing. In some cases, to have full persuasion, approaching to certainty; in others, more doubt is implied. It is often followed by in or on, especially in the scriptures. To believe in, is to hold as the object of faith. 'Ye believe in God, believe also in me.' John 14. To believe on, is to trust, to place full confidence in, to rest upon with faith. 'To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1. Johnson. But there is no ground for much distinction.
In theology, to believe sometimes expresses a mere assent of the understanding to the truths of the gospel; as in the case of Simon. Act.8. In others, the word implies, with this assent of the mind, a yielding of the will and affections, accompanied with a humble reliance on Christ for salvation. John 1.12. 3.15.
In popular use and familiar discourse, to believe often expresses an opinion in a vague manner, without a very exact estimate of evidence, noting a mere preponderance of opinion, and is nearly equivalent to think or suppose.

Definition 2024

believe

believe

English

Alternative forms

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)
    If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.‎
    I believe there are faeries.‎
    I believe it might rain tomorrow.‎ (Here, the speaker merely accepts the accuracy of the conditional.)
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 1:1:
      Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us […]
    • 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.
    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.‎

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.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: kind · form · hundred · #280: believe · white · means · thus

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

believe

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of believen

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan ‎(“to believe”), from Proto-Germanic *bilaubijaną ‎(“to believe”). Cognate with Scots beleve ‎(“to believe”). Compare Old English ġelīefan ‎(“to be dear to; believe, trust”), 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”).

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