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Glite Dictionary
🤔 To believe 💀 To die suddenly
to buy it

to buy it

140 7.6
To believe a story or explanation that may be untrue
  • phrasal verb
  • /baɪ ɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : creer
  • If it looks good, I buy it, okay?

I pitched them a show and they bought it right.

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Examples

  • Between me and you, I don't buy it either.

    Due Season (2022)

  • Hey, l just wanna know what's going on here... 'cause l don't know if l buy it anymore.

    Urban Legend (1998)

  • Your parents are never gonna buy it.

    The Naughty Nine (2023)

  • No one would buy it.

    The Nun II (2023)

  • I'm going to buy it soon, too.

    Last Action Hero (1993)

  • The ultimate measure of any new product is whether customers reach into their pocket and buy it.

    Academic text (2008)

  • They buy it because they think they need it and they think they need it because they're afraid somebody else will get it.

    The Kill Room (2023)

  • "I've been trying to talk Jack into buying it," Mr. Westbrook says.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Annie Ruth made a note in her leather time organizer to buy it as soon as it hit the stores.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I find it hard to buy it when he says he didn't see anything unusual.

Synonyms

to believe
vsto buy it
∞ 1.0

Accept that something is true or trust a person

leans more toward accepting doubtful statements rather than general trust
to buy
vsto buy it
  • Informal
989 7.1

To accept something as true

accepts something as true while highlighting possible doubt
to take it
vsto buy it
637 4.9

Think something is true from what someone has said or shown

means accepting as true rather than merely drawing an inference
to credit
vsto buy it
31 3.5

To believe something is true

is broader, focusing on accepting doubtful explanations rather than formality
to take at face value
vsto buy it
18 4.5

Believe something is true without checking it

accepts truth even when the claim may seem doubtful

Antonyms

to doubt
∞ 1.3

To feel not sure about something or think it is not true

to disbelieve
14 4.7

To not accept that something is true

How Certain

to accept
∞ 1.3
to believe
∞ 1.0
to buy it
  • Informal
140 7.6
to suspect
925 3.6

Surface Forms

buy it infinitive
buying it present participle
buys it third person singular
bought it past
bought it past participle

Morphology

buy + it

The meaning 'to believe or accept something' is directly compositional: 'buy' in its metaphorical sense 'accept as true' plus the pronoun 'it' as the object. A B1 learner who knows the provided sense of 'buy' will therefore readily infer the MWE; only learners who know only the literal 'purchase' sense might be confused.

Etymology

Buy it comes from the idea of buying something and accepting it, so if you 'buy' a person's story you accept it as true. So, saying 'I don't buy it' means 'I don't believe it'.