Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To refuse to believe in; reject.
- v. To withhold or reject belief.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To reject the truth or reality of; hold to be untrue or non-existent; refuse to credit.
- Not to believe; to deny the truth of any position; refuse to believe in some proposition or statement; especially, to refuse belief in a divine revelation.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. Not to believe; to refuse belief or credence to; to hold not to be true or actual.
WordNet 3.0
- v. reject as false; refuse to accept
Etymologies
- Coined circa 1640, from dis- + believe. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I am outraged, shocked, in disbelieve that the US will sit by and allow the Gov't of Iran to disgrace and dishonor their citizens by demanding a $3,000 payment for the bullet that killed a relative before the Gov't will turn over the body to the family.”
“Perhaps Stalin et al. were also atheists, but a shared disbelieve is not quite the same thing as a shared (positive) believe.”
“They have not said he was lying what they are in disbelieve about is the fact that he was so open and candid in his book.”
“As long as religion does not threaten science and freedom, we should be respectful and tolerant because our freedom to disbelieve is inextricably bound to the freedom of others to believe.”
hughstimson.org » Blog Archive » Michael Shermer, Of All People, On Tolerable Atheism
“That should have been 'disbelieve' not 'disbelief”
“However, I don't "disbelieve" in new years resolutions by any means.”
“For you therefore which believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner; and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”
“I see an error in my comment above, namely 72% philosophy faculty "lean towards" atheism while 72% of NAS members "disbelieve", and 14% of philosophy faculty "lean towards" theism while 7% of NAS members "believe".”
“Even I have recognized my own judgment of people who do not believe or "disbelieve" the way I do.”
“So, if Truth is something that matters to you, then you cannot 'disbelieve' in evolution or preach against it.”
Lists
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Tweets
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rolig Recently, I have been seeing this word used to mean "to not be of the opinion": "I disbelieve that the Obama stimulus package will succeed." This usage seems strange to me and, as I said, fairly recent. Normally, I would say, "I do not believe" or "I disagree that". I am used to the sense, "doubt the veracity" of someone or something: "She disbelieved his protestations of love." But even that sounds strange to my ear (compared with "She did not believe ..."). To use "disbelieve" with a "that" subordinate clause seems really unusual to me. Have I been too long outside English-speaking lands?
Jan 16, 2009