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to believe

to believe

1.5
Trust in a god or higher power
  • verb
  • /bɪˈliːv/
translation icon : creer
  • Do you believe in an afterlife or some form of spirituality?
  • believe in God

Well, they, they don't really believe in, in, in Satan.

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Examples

Synonyms

to believe in
vsto believe
1.7

To trust that a person or thing is good

is specific to faith in a religion rather than general trust
to hold
vsto believe
732 1.1

To believe something to be true

is about religious faith rather than general opinions or ideas

Idioms

20 4.4

Say this before a surprising fact that is hard to accept

Not believe anything someone says

5 7.2

To be very surprised by what you see because it seems unreal

2 7.2

To be so surprised by something you hear that you cannot accept it

believe you me
  • Informal
1 8.8

I promise that what I say is true

Phrasal Verbs

1.7

To trust that a person or thing is good

Pretend something is real for fun or play

To trust that chance affects what happens

Compounds

33 3.2

Play in which people pretend and imagine stories and roles

3 3.7

Imaginary and made to seem real for play or stories

How Faithful

to believe
1.5
to doubt
1.3
to disbelieve
14 4.7

Surface Forms

believe infinitive
believed past
believed past participle
believing present participle
believes third person singular

Etymology

Believe comes from old parts be- and lief, where lief meant 'dear' or 'beloved', the same idea you see in beloved. A helpful way to remember the religious sense is to think of holding a faith 'close'—so to believe in a religion is to trust it and keep it near your heart.