HUGO
  • home
  • C (Topics)
  • countries
  • cities
  • Dictionary
  • contact
  • list
  • quotes
  • A-Z
belief
NOUN:

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

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

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

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

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

6. opinion; conviction.

7. religious faith.

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

9. a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing:
her belief in God // a belief in democracy // I bought the table in the belief that it was an antique. // contrary to popular belief.

10. something that is accepted, considered to be true, or held as an opinion; something believed:
an individual's religious or political beliefs;

—especially, a tenet or body of tenets held by a group:
the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

11. conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence:
belief in the validity of scientific statements.
 
Examples:

There is growing belief that these policies will not succeed. // He gets angry if anyone challenges his religious beliefs.

Origin:

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). —Dictionary.com. // First Known Use of belief: 12th century. Middle English beleave, probably alteration of Old English gelēafa, from ge-, associative prefix + lēafa; akin to Old English lȳfan — more at believe. —Merriam-Webster.

Sources: 1, 2.

Updated: 9 July 2020 {5:23 PM}
  • home
  • C (Topics)
  • countries
  • cities
  • Dictionary
  • contact
  • list
  • quotes
  • A-Z