believe
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /bɪˈliːv/
  • (GA) IPA: /bɪˈliv/, /bi-/, /bə-/
Verb

believe (believes, present participle believing; 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.
    • 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 […]
  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.
  4. (transitive) To opine, think, reckon
    Do you think this is good?
    Hmm, I believe it's okay.
Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary