Link Centre Dictionary

believe

be·lieve

UK/bɪˈliːv/ US/bɪˈliv/ very common

verb

1.

accept as true; take to be true

  • “I believed his report”
  • “We didn”
  • “;”
Antonyms
2.

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
3.

be confident about something

  • “I believe that he will come back from the war”
Synonyms
4.

follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer

  • “When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too”
5.

credit with veracity

  • “You cannot believe this man”
  • “Should we believe a publication like the National Inquirer?”

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • be unable to believe one's eyes
  • believe it or not
  • believe me
  • believe one's ears
  • believe one's eyes
  • believe one's own eyes
  • believe you me
  • believing is seeing

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.