BELIEVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does believe mean? 

• BELIEVE (verb)
  The verb BELIEVE has 5 senses:

1. accept as true; take to be true

2. judge or regard; look upon; judge

3. be confident about something

4. follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer

5. credit with veracity

  Familiarity information: BELIEVE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BELIEVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they believe    ... he / she / it believes   
Past simple: believed   
Past participle: believed   
-ing form: believing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Accept as true; take to be true

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

She believes in spirits

Hypernyms (to "believe" is one way to...):

accept (consider or hold as true)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "believe"):

infer; understand (believe to be the case)

swallow (believe or accept without questioning or challenge)

buy (accept as true)

believe (follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer)

trust (have confidence or faith in)

believe in (have a firm conviction as to the goodness of something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They believe him to write the letter

Antonym:

disbelieve (reject as false; refuse to accept)

Derivation:

belief (any cognitive content held as true)

believable (capable of being believed)

believer (a supporter who accepts something as true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Judge or regard; look upon; judge

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

believe; conceive; consider; think

Context example:

The racist conceives such people to be inferior

Hypernyms (to "believe" is one way to...):

evaluate; judge; pass judgment (form a critical opinion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "believe"):

hold (remain committed to)

rethink (change one's mind)

think (dispose the mind in a certain way)

be known as; esteem; know as; look on; look upon; regard as; repute; take to be; think of (look on as or consider)

feel (have a feeling or perception about oneself in reaction to someone's behavior or attitude)

consider; reckon; regard; see; view (deem to be)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s something Adjective/Noun
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They believe that there was a traffic accident

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be confident about something

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

believe; trust

Context example:

I believe that he will come back from the war

Hypernyms (to "believe" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They believe that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

belief (a vague idea in which some confidence is placed)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too

Hypernyms (to "believe" is one way to...):

believe (accept as true; take to be true)

Domain category:

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

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "believe"):

misbelieve (hold a false or unorthodox belief)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

believer (a person who has religious faith)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Credit with veracity

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

Should we believe a publication like the National Enquirer?

Hypernyms (to "believe" is one way to...):

credit (have trust in; trust in the truth or veracity of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

believable (capable of being believed)

 Context examples 

At ten o’clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to keep a team fit.

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

The fact is that I could not believe it possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north of Dartmoor.

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

I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her.

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

A year ago I believed for two years.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness.

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

You may decide to work to help a charity you believe in and garner great results.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The poor dear was evidently terrified at something—very greatly terrified; I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to support him he would have sunk down.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And this was due, I believe, first, to habit; and second, to the fact that they were less sensitively organized.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He had merely intimated his displeasure, in his pride believing that to intimate was to command.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was an ease in his manner—a gay and light manner it was, but not swaggering—which I still believe to have borne a kind of enchantment with it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)