English Explanatory Dictionary

belief

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
  2. Faith or trust in the reality of something; often based upon one's own reasoning, trust in a claim, desire of actuality, and/or evidence considered.
  3. Something believed.
  4. The quality or state of believing.
  5. Religious faith.
  6. One's religious or moral convictions.

Pronunciation

/bɪˈliːf/ /bəˈliːf/ en-us-belief.ogg

Word forms

belief beliefs

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-West Germanic *laubu Old English lēafa Middle English bileve English belief From Middle English bileve, from Old English lēafa, from Proto-West Germanic *laubu from Proto-Germanic *laubō. Compare German Glaube (“faith, belief”). The replacement of final /v/ with /f/ is due to the analogy of noun-verb pairs with /f/ in the noun but /v/ in the verb, creating a pair belief : believe on the model of e.g. grief : grieve or proof : prove.

Synonyms

assumption premise faith opinion tenet conviction

Antonyms

disbelief

Related words

believe

Derived words

basic belief beggar belief belief-beggaring beliefful beliefless belieflike belief system beyond belief contrary to popular belief core belief defy belief disbelief forebelief foundational belief limiting belief luxury belief make belief metabelief misbelief nonbelief overbelief self-belief unbelief wanbelief

Translations

Albanian: besplotë Estonian: usk Finnish: usko Hindi: विश्वास Italian: fiducia Korean: 바람 Polish: wiara Serbo-Croatian: уверење Serbo-Croatian: увјерење Serbo-Croatian: uverenje Serbo-Croatian: uvjerenje
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