believer

[bih-leev-er]

noun

1. someone who has confidence in the truth, existence, or reliability of something.

   I am a firm believer that evolution happened the way that evolutionary biologists describe.

   The team’s offensive coordinator is a big believer in the run game versus the passing game.

2. someone who has or professes faith in something, especially a religion.

   The church has grown from a handful of believers, meeting in the pastor’s living room, to a congregation now in excess of 1,000.

Other Word Forms

• pre-believer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of believer¹

believe ( def. ) + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Such was the circus atmosphere of the place, according to Tom Freston, whose memoir, “Unplugged,” reveals how a team of die-hard believers turned music into television.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Her months-long crusade has brought in several believers, including two neighbors who own the lots next to hers.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

At home, he hopes that the natural sympathy of many American Christians for their African fellow believers can provide political backing for a more engaged Africa policy than most America firsters would instinctively support.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He is a devoted and inspirational leader and an absolute believer in the BBC and public service broadcasting.

Read more on BBC

Hernandez, whose district stretches from working-class Westlake to rapidly gentrifying Highland Park, is a believer in shifting the Overton Window at City Hall — moving the political debate left and “putting people over profits.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• adherent 
• devotee 
• disciple 
• follower 
• supporter 
• zealot