*belie*

n. [ OE. bileafe, bileve; cf. AS. geleáfa. See Believe. ] 1. Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. [ 1913 Webster ]

Belief admits of all degrees, from the slightest suspicion to the fullest assurance. Reid. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man can attain [ to ] belief by the bare contemplation of heaven and earth. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The thing believed; the object of belief. [ 1913 Webster ]

Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any class of views; doctrine; creed. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the heat of persecution to which Christian belief was subject upon its first promulgation. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Credence; trust; reliance; assurance; opinion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having belief or faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being believed; credible. -- Be*liev"a*ble*ness, n. -- Be*liev`a*bil"i*ty n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Believed p. pr. & vb. n. Believing. ] [ OE. bileven (with pref. be- for AS. ge-), fr. AS. gel&unr_;fan, gel&unr_;fan; akin to D. gelooven, OHG. gilouban, G. glauben, OS. gil&unr_;bian, Goth. galaubjan, and Goth. liubs dear. See Lief, a., Leave, n. ] To exercise belief in; to credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of, upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our conqueror (whom I now
Of force believe almighty). Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? Acts xxvi. 27. [ 1913 Webster ]

Often followed by a dependent clause.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Acts viii. 37. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Expect. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To have a firm persuasion, esp. of the truths of religion; to have a persuasion approaching to certainty; to exercise belief or faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark ix. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Rom. x. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To think; to suppose. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will not believe so meanly of you. Fielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

To believe in. (a) To believe that the subject of the thought (if a person or thing) exists, or (if an event) that it has occurred, or will occur; -- as, to believe in the resurrection of the dead. “She does not believe in Jupiter.” J. H. Newman. (b) To believe that the character, abilities, and purposes of a person are worthy of entire confidence; -- especially that his promises are wholly trustworthy. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” John xiv. 1. (c) To believe that the qualities or effects of an action or state are beneficial: as, to believe in sea bathing, or in abstinence from alcoholic beverages. --
To believe on, to accept implicitly as an object of religious trust or obedience; to have faith in. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who believes; one who is persuaded of the truth or reality of some doctrine, person, or thing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) One who gives credit to the truth of the Scriptures, as a revelation from God; a Christian; -- in a more restricted sense, one who receives Christ as his Savior, and accepts the way of salvation unfolded in the gospel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Book of Com. Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl. Hist.) One who was admitted to all the rights of divine worship and instructed in all the mysteries of the Christian religion, in distinction from a catechumen, or one yet under instruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That believes; having belief. -- Be*liev"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. The act of disbelieving;; a state of the mind in which one is fully persuaded that an opinion, assertion, or doctrine is not true; refusal of assent, credit, or credence; denial of belief. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness that disbelief in great men. Carlyle.

Syn. -- Distrust; unbelief; incredulity; doubt; skepticism. -- Disbelief, Unbelief. Unbelief is a mere failure to admit; disbelief is a positive rejection. One may be an unbeliever in Christianity from ignorance or want of inquiry; a unbeliever has the proofs before him, and incurs the guilt of setting them aside. Unbelief is usually open to conviction; disbelief is already convinced as to the falsity of that which it rejects. Men often tell a story in such a manner that we regard everything they say with unbelief. Familiarity with the worst parts of human nature often leads us into a disbelief in many good qualities which really exist among men. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disbelieved p. pr. & vb. n. Disbelieving. ] Not to believe; to refuse belief or credence to; to hold not to be true or actual. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assertions for which there is abundant positive evidence are often disbelieved, on account of what is called their improbability or impossibility. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who disbelieves, or refuses belief; an unbeliever. Specifically, one who does not believe the Christian religion. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A feigning to believe; make believe. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To pretend; -- often used with that, but often having the that omitted; as, he made believe he didn't hear her; or he made believe that he didn't hear her. [ PJC ]

a. 1. Feigned; insincere. “Make-believe reverence.” G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Imaginary; as, the child had a make-believe friend to whom he often talked. [ PJC ]

n. A feigning to believe, as in the play of children; a mere pretense; a fiction; an invention. “Childlike make-believe.” Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

To forswear self-delusion and make-believe. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Erroneous or false belief. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To believe erroneously, or in a false religion. “That misbelieving Moor.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who believes wrongly; one who holds a false religion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. un- not + belief: cf. AS. ungeleáfa. ] 1. The withholding of belief; doubt; incredulity; skepticism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disbelief; especially, disbelief of divine revelation, or in a divine providence or scheme of redemption. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Disbelief. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not believed; disbelieved. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who does not believe; an incredulous person; a doubter; a skeptic. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A disbeliever; especially, one who does not believe that the Bible is a divine revelation, and holds that Christ was neither a divine nor a supernatural person; an infidel; a freethinker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Infidel. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Not believing; incredulous; doubting; distrusting; skeptical. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

2. Believing that the thing alleged is not true; disbelieving; especially, believing that the Bible is not a divine revelation, or that Christ was not a divine or a supernatural person. “Unbelieving Jews.” Acts xiv. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Un`be*liev"ing*ly adv. -- Un`be*liev"ing*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

See abolishable.
See absolvable.
See absurd.
See abundant.
See accordant.
See adoptable.
See adventurous.
See affable.
See affectionate.
See afraid.
See alliable.
See allowable.
See alterable.
See ambiguous.
See ambitious.
See amendable.
See -American.
See amusive.
See angular.
See anxious.
See apocryphal.
See apostolic.
See apparent.
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See applausive.
See appreciable.
See apprehensible.
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See approachable.
See artificial.
See artistic.
See assailable.
See attainable.
See attentive.
See authentic.
See available.
See bailable.
See bearable.
See beautiful.
See beliefful.
See believable.
See beneficial.
See benevolent.
See blamable.
See blemishable.
See blissful.
See boastful.
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See bookish.
See bounteous.
See bribable.
See brotherly.
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See conjunctive.
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See countable.
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See courtierlike.
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See deliberate.
See delightful.
See deliverable.
See democratic.
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See demonstrative.
See deniable.
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See descendible.
See describable.
See desirable.
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See devout.
See diaphanous.
See diligent.
See diminishable.
See discernible.
See disciplinable.
See discordant.
See discoverable.
See dissolvable.
See distinguishable.
See dividable.
See divine.
See domestic.
See doubtful.
[ 1913 Webster ]