belief

[bih-leef]

noun

1. something believed; an opinion or conviction.

   a belief that the earth is flat.

   Synonyms: persuasion, conclusion, tenet, view

2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.

   a statement unworthy of belief.

   Synonyms: assurance

3. confidence; faith; trust.

   a child's belief in his parents.

4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith.

   the Christian belief.

   Synonyms: dogma, doctrine

belief

/ bɪˈliːf /

noun

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

2. opinion; conviction

3. religious faith

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

Other Word Forms

• prebelief noun
• superbelief noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of belief¹

First recorded in 1125–75; earlier bile(e)ve (noun use of verb); replacing Middle English bileave, equivalent to bi- be- + leave (probably from Old English -lēafa “belief”); cognate with Dutch geloof, German Glaube; akin to Gothic galaubeins

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The difference is that media bias hiding behind impartiality is always less compelling than an honest conversation between two people who don’t let their political beliefs get in the way of exposing the truth.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Councillor Tom Ashton, portfolio holder for planning at the neighbouring East Lindsey authority, previously described the project as "the thin end of the wedge of climate madness" and said: "Its scale and mass beggars belief."

Read more on BBC

"First half, we lacked a little bit of belief with the ball, but we were in the game and weren't conceding a lot of chances," he added.

Read more on BBC

Bayes' rule provides a systematic way to update that belief, factoring in the likelihood of the test being wrong as well as the person's prior assumptions.

Read more on Science Daily

But there is an inner belief within this Proteas group that previous sides have lacked and with the experienced duo of Kapp and Tryon, they gradually rebuilt.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• acceptance 
• assumption 
• conclusion 
• confidence 
• conviction 
• expectation 
• faith 
• feeling 
• hope 
• idea 
• judgment 
• knowledge 
• notion 
• opinion 
• position 
• suspicion 
• theory 
• thinking 
• trust 
• understanding