BELIEF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does belief mean? 

• BELIEF (noun)
  The noun BELIEF has 2 senses:

1. any cognitive content held as true

2. a vague idea in which some confidence is placed

  Familiarity information: BELIEF used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BELIEF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any cognitive content held as true

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("belief" is a kind of...):

cognitive content; content; mental object (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "belief"):

spiritualism (the belief that the spirits of dead people can communicate with people who are still alive (especially via a medium))

spiritual being; supernatural being (an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events)

spiritual domain; spiritual world; unseen (a belief that there is a realm controlled by a divine spirit)

suffragism (the belief that the right to vote should be extended (as to women))

supernaturalism (a belief in forces beyond ordinary human understanding)

superstition; superstitious notion (an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear)

supremacism (the belief that some particular group or race is superior to all others)

theory (a belief that can guide behavior)

theosophism (belief in theosophy)

thought (the organized beliefs of a period or group or individual)

totemism (belief in the kinship of a group of people with a common totem)

tribalism (the beliefs of a tribal society)

values (beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something))

vampirism (belief in the existence of vampires)

individualism (a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence)

sacerdotalism (a belief that priests can act as mediators between human beings and God)

revolutionism (a belief in the spread of revolutionary principles)

opinion; popular opinion; public opinion; vox populi (a belief or sentiment shared by most people; the voice of the people)

faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)

pacificism; pacifism (the belief that all international disputes can be settled by arbitration)

originalism (the belief that the United States Constitution should be interpreted in the way the authors originally intended it)

autotelism (belief that a work of art is an end in itself or its own justification)

opinion; persuasion; sentiment; thought; view (a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty)

meliorism (the belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

geneticism (the belief that all human characteristics are determined genetically)

fetichism; fetishism (a belief in the magical power of fetishes (or the worship of a fetish))

expectation; outlook; prospect (belief about (or mental picture of) the future)

philosophy (any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation)

doctrine; ism; philosophical system; philosophy; school of thought (a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school)

faith; trust (complete confidence in a person or plan etc)

article of faith; conviction; strong belief (an unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence)

Antonym:

unbelief (a rejection of belief)

Derivation:

believe (accept as true; take to be true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A vague idea in which some confidence is placed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

belief; feeling; impression; notion; opinion

Context example:

I had a feeling that she was lying

Hypernyms ("belief" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "belief"):

effect (an impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived))

first blush (at the first glimpse or impression)

hunch; intuition; suspicion (an impression that something might be the case)

presence (the impression that something is present)

Derivation:

believe (be confident about something)

 Context examples 

Mr. McFarlane had left his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the hall.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The matter was so prearranged that it is my belief that they brought with them some sort of block or pulley which might serve as a gallows.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not only were they new to her, and contrary to her own beliefs, but she always felt in them germs of truth that threatened to unseat or modify her own convictions.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

To confirm what I have now said, and further to show the miserable effects of a confined education, I shall here insert a passage, which will hardly obtain belief.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Despite the entrenched belief that eggs raise cholesterol, some studies have suggested that dietary cholesterol intake doesn’t necessarily translate to higher blood cholesterol.

(Eggs No Longer Part of a Healthy Diet?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

His mother holds, I know, the secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into him.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was the cherished belief of each that he did more than his share of the work, and neither forbore to speak this belief at every opportunity.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I cannot shut out a pale lingering shadow of belief that she will be spared.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

For the first time in a lab, researchers found evidence supporting the commonly held belief that people with certain physiologies lose less weight than others when limiting calories.

(Ease of weight loss influenced by individual biology, NIH)