Belief
- Belief
- Belief Be*lief", n. [OE. bileafe, bileve; cf. AS. gele['a]fa.
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.
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Belief admits of all degrees, from the slightest
suspicion to the fullest assurance. --Reid.
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2. (Theol.) A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith.
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No man can attain [to] belief by the bare
contemplation of heaven and earth. --Hooker.
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3. The thing believed; the object of belief.
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Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of
fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. --Bacon.
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4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of
any class of views; doctrine; creed.
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In the heat of persecution to which Christian belief
was subject upon its first promulgation. --Hooker.
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{Ultimate belief}, a first principle incapable of proof; an
intuitive truth; an intuition. --Sir W. Hamilton.
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Syn: Credence; trust; reliance; assurance; opinion.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
2000.
:
Look at other dictionaries:
Belief — is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. [Citation last = Schwitzgebel first = Eric editor last = Zalta editor first = Edward contribution = Belief title = The Stanford Encyclopedia of… … Wikipedia
Belief — • That state of the mind by which it assents to propositions, not by reason of their intrinsic evidence, but because of authority Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Belief Belief … Catholic encyclopedia
belief — be·lief n: a degree of conviction of the truth of something esp. based on a consideration or examination of the evidence compare knowledge, suspicion Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 … Law dictionary
belief — 1 Belief, faith, credence, credit are comparable when they mean the act of one who assents intellectually to something proposed or offered for acceptance as true or the state of mind of one who so assents. Belief is less restricted in its… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
belief — (n.) late 12c., bileave, replacing O.E. geleafa belief, faith, from W.Gmc. *ga laubon to hold dear, esteem, trust (Cf. O.S. gilobo, M.Du. gelove, O.H.G. giloubo, Ger. Glaube), from *galaub dear, esteemed, from intensive prefix *ga + *leubh … Etymology dictionary
belief — ► NOUN 1) a feeling that something exists or is true, especially one without proof. 2) a firmly held opinion. 3) (belief in) trust or confidence in. 4) religious faith. ● beyond belief Cf. ↑beyond belief … English terms dictionary
belief — [bə lēf′, bēlēf′] n. [ME bileve < bi , BE + leve, contr. < ileve < OE geleafa: see BELIEVE] 1. the state of believing; conviction or acceptance that certain things are true or real 2. faith, esp. religious faith 3. trust or confidence [I … English World dictionary
belief — [n1] putting regard in as true acceptance, admission, assent, assumption, assurance, avowal, axiom, certainty, conclusion, confidence, conjecture, conviction, credence, credit, deduction, divination, expectation, faith, fancy, feeling, guess,… … New thesaurus
BELIEF — The Bible In the Bible there are no articles of faith or dogmas in the Christian or Islamic sense of the terms. Although trust in God is regarded as a paramount religious virtue (Gen. 15:6; Isa. 7:9; cf. Job 2:9), there is nowhere in Scripture an … Encyclopedia of Judaism
belief — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ absolute, deep seated, deeply held, fervent, firm, passionate, profound, strong, strongly held, unshakable, unwavering … Collocations dictionary
