belief

[ bih-leef ]

/ bɪˈlif /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR belief ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.

confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.

confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.

a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.

Nearby words

belgrano, belgrano, manuel, belgravia, belial, belie, belief, believability, believable, believe, believe it or not, believe one's ears

Origin of belief

1125–75; earlier bile(e)ve (noun use of v.); replacing Middle English bileave, equivalent to bi- be- + leave; compare Old English gelēafa (cognate with Dutch geloof, German Glaube; akin to Gothic galaubeins)

SYNONYMS FOR belief

1 view, tenet, conclusion, persuasion.

2 assurance.

4 doctrine, dogma.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR belief ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formspre·be·lief, nounsu·per·be·lief, noun

Synonym study

2. Belief, certainty, conviction refer to acceptance of, or confidence in, an alleged fact or body of facts as true or right without positive knowledge or proof. Belief is such acceptance in general: belief in astrology. Certainty indicates unquestioning belief and positiveness in one's own mind that something is true: I know this for a certainty. Conviction is settled, profound, or earnest belief that something is right: a conviction that a decision is just.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for belief

One wonders if his subsequent battles with the “Evil Empire” were animated by this belief.
The Evangelical Apocalypse Is All Your Fault|Jay Michaelson|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The incident sparked his belief in Santa, but he would have to wait nearly two decades before dressing up as Jolly St. Nick.
Kerry Bentivolio: The Congressman Who Believes in Santa Claus|Ben Jacobs|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The congressman traces his belief in Santa Claus back 40 years, when he was a student going to college “on the GI Bill.”
Kerry Bentivolio: The Congressman Who Believes in Santa Claus|Ben Jacobs|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His belief that officers really did find his fingerprints at the scene seems to have encouraged his false confession.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities|Elizabeth Picciuto|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

If any belief summed up the players I was writing about, here it was.
A West Point MVP Who Never Played a Down|Nicolaus Mills|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The case has been different with the movements induced by contact with Christian forms of belief.
Introduction to the History of Religions|Crawford Howell Toy
The Gods, in short belong to the region of belief, while morality belongs to that of practice.
The Necessity of Atheism|Dr. D.M. Brooks
That which Jack saw confirmed his belief of a perfect understanding between the different parties.
The Lost Trail|Edward S. Ellis
Or, as he expresses it, ‘our belief of the continuance of the laws of nature.’
History of Civilization in England, Vol. 3 of 3|Henry Thomas Buckle
No hostess would attempt such a thing, the belief being general that some one of the guests would die within a year.
As A Chinaman Saw Us|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for belief

belief

/ (bɪˈliːf) /

noun

a principle, proposition, idea, etc, accepted as true

opinion; conviction

religious faith

trust or confidence, as in a person or a person's abilities, probity, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for belief

belief

late 12c., bileave, replacing Old English geleafa "belief, faith," from West Germanic *ga-laubon "to hold dear, esteem, trust" (cf. Old Saxon gilobo, Middle Dutch gelove, Old High German giloubo, German Glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed," from intensive prefix *ga- + *leubh- "to care, desire, like, love" (see love (v.)). The prefix was altered on analogy of the verb believe. The distinction of the final consonant from that of believe developed 15c.

"The be-, which is not a natural prefix of nouns, was prefixed on the analogy of the vb. (where it is naturally an intensive) .... [OED]

Belief used to mean "trust in God," while faith meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty" (a sense preserved in keep one's faith, in good (or bad) faith and in common usage of faithful, faithless, which contain no notion of divinity). But faith, as cognate of Latin fides, took on the religious sense beginning in 14c. translations, and belief had by 16c. become limited to "mental acceptance of something as true," from the religious use in the sense of "things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine" (a sense attested from early 13c.).

belief

noun

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Origin of belief

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Examples from the Web for belief

British Dictionary definitions for belief

belief

noun

Word Origin and History for belief

belief