believe

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“
We know this because we got this book in the mail called "Hercolubus or Red Planet" by V.M. Rabolu, who we believe is Spanish and, well, barking mad.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. transitive verb To accept as true or real: Do you believe the news stories?
  2. transitive verb To credit with veracity: I believe you.
  3. transitive verb To expect or suppose; think: I believe they will arrive shortly.
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Examples (50)

  • The other fellow I believe is Russian, specializes in muon detectors Tell me when Giorgio got his bright idea. —  F ;SF; - vol 096 issue 01 - January 1999
  • The only way I can determine what to believe is to consider what I would have done in similar circumstances.
  • If Bauer is supposed to be pure make-believe, then surely Sutherland's personal politics are beside the point? —  Life and style | guardian.co.uk
  • LOTS of people blithely "believe" whatever they WANT to believe, and equally blithely ignore mere "logical" inconsistencies and irrationalities in their systems of belief. —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
  • Unless you intend to debate what it is that I personally believe, which is a debate which you can not possibly win, nor could anyone gain insight from, for all it would do is cause you to make assumptions about me, based on what you think you know, about what I choose to believe in. —  Original Signal - Transmitting Digg
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

believe:   believing ·  believed ·  believes
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English bileven, from Old English belȳfan, belēfan, gelēfan; see leubh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English beleeve, from Middle English beleven, bileven, bilefen, with prefix be- (as in belief, q. v.), parallel with the earlier leven, by apheresis for ileven, from Anglo-Saxon geliéfan, gely¯fan, gelēfan = Old Saxon gilōbhian = Dutch gelooven = Middle Low German gelōven = Old High German gilouben, Middle High German gelouben, glöuben, German gleuben, now glauben, = Gothic (Moesogothic) galaubjan, believe, literally hold dear or valuable or satisfactory, be pleased with, from Gothic (Moesogothic) galaubs, dear, valuable (found only in the special sense of ‘costly'), from ga- (Anglo-Saxon, etc., ge-), a generalizing prefix, + laub, a form (preterit) of the common Teutonic root *lub, whence also Gothic (Moesogothic) liubs = Anglo-Saxon lcóf, English lief, dear, Anglo-Saxon lufu, English love, etc.: see lief, leave, love, liberal, etc.
 

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/bəˈliv/
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