Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To be undecided or skeptical about: began to doubt some accepted doctrines.
- v. To tend to disbelieve; distrust: doubts politicians when they make sweeping statements.
- v. To regard as unlikely: I doubt that we'll arrive on time.
- v. Archaic To suspect; fear.
- v. To be undecided or skeptical.
- n. A lack of certainty that often leads to irresolution. See Synonyms at uncertainty.
- n. A lack of trust.
- n. A point about which one is uncertain or skeptical: reassured me by answering my doubts.
- n. The condition of being unsettled or unresolved: an outcome still in doubt.
- idiom. beyond Without question; certainly; definitely.
- idiom. no doubt Certainly.
- idiom. no doubt Probably.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be uncertain as to a truth or fact; be undetermined or undecided; waver or fluctuate in opinion; hesitate.
- To be in fear; be afraid.
- To be uncertain as to the truth or fact of; hold in question; question; hesitate to believe: as, to doubt the truth of a story.
- To be expectant or apprehensive of; believe hesitatingly or indefinitely.
- To distrust; be uncertain with regard to; be distrustful of: as, to doubt one's ability to execute a task.
- To fear; be afraid of.
- To cause to fear; put in fear; appal; daunt.
- n. Uncertainty with regard to the truth of a given proposition or assertion; suspense of judgment arising from defect of evidence or of inclination; an unsettled state of opinion; indecision of belief.
- n. A matter of uncertainty; an undecided case or proposition; a ground of hesitation.
- n. A difficulty suggested or proposed for solution; an objection.
- n. Difficulty; danger.
- n. Hesitating apprehension; fear; dread.
- n. Synonyms Indecision, irresolution, suspense, hesitation, hesitancy, misgiving, distrust, mistrust.
- n. A redoubt.
Wiktionary
- v. To lack confidence in; to disbelieve, question, or suspect.
- v. archaic To fear; to suspect.
- n. Uncertainty, disbelief.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To waver in opinion or judgment; to be in uncertainty as to belief respecting anything; to hesitate in belief; to be undecided as to the truth of the negative or the affirmative proposition; to b e undetermined.
- v. obsolete To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive.
- v. To question or hold questionable; to withhold assent to; to hesitate to believe, or to be inclined not to believe; to withhold confidence from; to distrust.
- v. obsolete To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive of.
- v. obsolete To fill with fear; to affright.
- n. A fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation.
- n. Uncertainty of condition.
- n. obsolete Suspicion; fear; apprehension; dread.
- n. Difficulty expressed or urged for solution; point unsettled; objection.
WordNet 3.0
- v. lack confidence in or have doubts about
- v. consider unlikely or have doubts about
- n. the state of being unsure of something
- n. uncertainty about the truth or factuality or existence of something
Etymologies
- Middle English doute, from Anglo-Norman and Old French doute, from Latin dubita. The modern spelling is probably under the influence of Middle French doubte. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English douten, from Old French douter, from Latin dubitāre, to waver; see dwo- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Carolos Duran has already seen my sketch for one, and he says there is not a doubt -- _not a doubt_ -- that it will be considered.”
“Doubt strikes at the root of Justice and of Love -- not the doubt that is the half-brother to Disbelief, but the doubt which wonders always and always if we believe most easily what we _want to believe_, and if our firmest conviction against such Belief is not, more than anything else, yet one more manifestation of what we desire so earnestly _to doubt_.”
“_point device_ companions, such rackers of orthography, as to speak doubt _fine_ when _he should say doubt_, etc.”
“There's no doubt, sir; there's _no doubt_ that it was the spirit of Mr. Frederick Massingbird. ”
“No doubt -- Ay, do you hear that _no doubt_, Colambre?”
“III. i.151 (367,7) That love the fundamental part of state/More than you doubt the change of't] To _doubt_ is to _fear_.”
“The reason I go to riesling when I'm in doubt is the racy acidity that good ones feature -- and this one has it in spades.”
Wine Blogging Wednesday #53: McGregor Vineyard 2007 Dry Riesling
“It further emphasizes the papal benediction of the same, which, while not in doubt, is relevant again for the reason of these factors.”
Some Considerations of the Lateran Mass of Cardinal Cañizares
“What's not in doubt is that Luke never lets it cross his mind that he's now the Chosen One.”
“What's not in doubt is that it's a huge democratic moment: more people than ever before are being able to share their ideas and feelings with a global audience, and to engage in a vivid contemporary dialogue about the meaning of culture, in books, film, music, theatre and art.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘doubt’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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®emovies
Movies or TV shows where the titles are also common words, generally one-word titles.
lost, alien, bug, elephant, siege, gladiator, flock, captivity, piano, roots, freaks, moonstruck and 269 more...
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steffany(grade 2)
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base, beach and 127 more...
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Words that are also movies
Unabashedly stolen from a comment made by courier12.
vertigo, serendipity, casablanca, psycho, jaws, fantasia, stagecoach, network, rocky, giant, platoon, unforgiven and 285 more...
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jackgrade2
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, atlas, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base and 127 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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[Open] Stative Verbs
Definition Many of these can also be dynamic.
Please just list bare infinitives to keep the list wieldy. Perhaps a tag (e.g., “stative”) would be sufficient for participles.)act, amaze, appear, appreciate, astonish, become, believe, belong, cost, feel, get, hate and 53 more...
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Emotions
affection, longing, cheerfulness, pride, optimism, relief, success, suprise, irritation, rage, hope, love and 31 more...
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Shadowkeir's list
This list, the one shown below this very message, is a collection of words that you cannot begin to fathom how much I adore. The list will also feature atithesis and contrasting words such as the t...
wishful, anticlimactic, forte, monchromatic, septic, wonderous, isoclinal, deformed, disintergrate, favourite, laughable, awe-inspiring and 250 more...
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Movies I've Seen
There's a jar I've been adding movie ticket stubs to since about age twelve. I am pleased to have a more accessible way of keeping track of the movies I've seen. Even if some are pretty embarrassin...
ghostbusters, amadeus, miller's crossing, no reservations, hoot, insomnia, master and commander, the matrix, o brother, where ..., night of the comet, the dark knight, tropic thunder and 489 more...
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him and i
peach, left, alone, abandon, horid, gay, bloody, beautiful, outside, inside, confused, unconditional and 111 more...
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zzyyxx's Words
plethora, drout, functional, rye, wring, doubt, cognative, weird, gnaw, surcease, rend, languish and 438 more...
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mstuckings's Words
defenestrate, lacklustre, vulgarise, simplistic, generative, astonished, elated, strident, aliquot, deliquescent, pipette, subjunctive and 104 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Some Words I Love to Use
arcology, strumpet, crux, confected, pedant, bluestocking, cogitation, incensed, lovecraftian, cygnet, dactyl, adytum and 539 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for doubt.

biligsiz doubt comes into my mind when I feel so weak. Jan 22, 2013
qroqqa I've heard of some cargo cult etymology that connects them. The Latin dubit- is actually a frequentative of a contracted form of du-hib-, i.e. (allowing for Old Latin weak vowel changes) du- "two" + hab- "have", thus "have two things in mind". Or at least that is vastly more likely. Aug 28, 2009
chained_bear Dubh means black, right? So... Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
That's my story, anyhow. :) Aug 28, 2009
gangerh I don't think I'd believe it. Aug 28, 2009
hernesheir Kudos and a laurel wreath to the Wordie who can tell us just how Irish Gaelic dubh might relate to this word. Care to chime in qroqqa or sionnach? Aug 28, 2009
milosrdenstvi No doubt about it! Aug 28, 2009
gangerh Are you sure, 'vi? Aug 28, 2009
milosrdenstvi I think there are very few words that I like the SOUND of as much as this one. Aug 27, 2009
anydelirium '"You should never, ever doubt what nobody is sure of."' -Willy Wonka in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Feb 18, 2008