believe

Syllables: be·lieveUK/bɪˈliːv//bɪˈliv/

believe verb: to accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).

Verb

believe (third-person singular simple present believes, present participle believing, simple past and past participle believed)

(transitive) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
- If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.
- I believe there are faeries.
Synonyms:

understand, feel, see, buy, swallow, credit
(transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth.
- Why did I ever believe you?
- BEloued, beleeue not euery ſpirit, but trie the ſpirits, whether they are of God: becauſe many falſe prophets are gone out into the woꝛld.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 4:1
Synonyms:

trust, Adam and Eve
(transitive) To have been convinced by rational means to accept the truth of a proposition.
(transitive) To have been influenced by arational means (such as emotional experience, the imagination of need, etc.) to accept the truth of a proposition.
(intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
- After that night in the church, I believed.
- [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at...
(transitive) To opine, think, reckon.
- Do you think this is good? —Hmm, I believe it's okay.
- “Some people believe him charismatic,” Van Assen told me. “I am less sensitive to it.”2017 February 1, Stephen Buranyi, quoting Marcel van Assen, “The high-tech war on science fraud”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 21 Feb 2025
Synonyms:

hold
To ascribe existence to.
- Do you believe in God / the Easter Bunny / ghosts?
- Since I don't believe in reincarnation, I believe that the only way to eliminate suffering is to die.
To believe that (something) is right or desirable.
- I don't believe in sex before marriage.
- I don't believe in making my bed.
To have confidence in the ability or power of.
- I believe in you, man! You can do it!
- I believe in America. America has made my fortune and I raised my daughter in the American fashion.1972 March 14, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather, spoken by Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto), Paramount Pictures

believe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

believe in Hindi

to accept as true: सच्चा saccā, सत्य satya
to accept that someone is telling the truth (object: person): मानना mānnā
to have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth: आस्था āsthā, श्रद्धा śraddhā

believe in Tamil

to accept as true: ஏற்க ēṟka, ஏற்றுக்கொள் ēṟṟukkoḷ, ஒப்புக்கொள் oppukkoḷ, நம்பு nampu
to accept that someone is telling the truth (object: person): நம்பு nampu
to consider likely: நினை niṉai
to have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth: நம்பு nampu

believe in Marathi

to believe, believe in, hold to be correct: मानणे mānṇe

believe in Urdu

to accept that someone is telling the truth (object: person): مانْنا mānnā, اِعْتِبار کَرْنا i'tibār karnā, یَقِین کَرْنا yaqīn karnā

More languagesFewer languages

believe in Bengali: বিশ্বাস biśśaś
believe in Telugu: ఒప్పుకో oppukō, నమ్ము nammu, అనుకో anukō
believe in Malayalam: വിശ്വസിക്കുക viśvasikkuka
believe in Kannada: ನಂಬು, ನೆಮ್ಮು, ಎಮ್ಮು, ಎಮ್ಮಿಕೊಳ್
believe in Punjabi: مننا mannṇā
believe in Gujarati: માનવું mānvũ
believe in Odia: ମଣିବା maṇibā
believe in Sanskrit: श्रद्दधाति śraddadhāti
believe in Assamese: বিশ্বাস কৰ bissax kor
believe in Nepali: मान्नु mānnu
believe in Tagalog: maniwala
believe in Arabic: صَدَّقَ ṣaddaqa, ظَنَّ ẓanna, آمَنَ ʔāmana, آمَنَ بِـ ʔāmana bi-
believe in Malay: percaya
believe in Indonesian: percaya, memercayai, yakin, beriman
believe in Thai: เชื่อ chʉ̂ʉa
believe in Vietnamese: tin, tin tưởng
believe in Myanmar: ယုံ yum

Examples of believe in a sentence

He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025:
He believes that self-improvement and its growing popularity are symptoms of what he calls individualism.2019 May 2, Nina Avramova, “When you should use self-help programs and when to skip them”, in CNN, archived from the original on 13 Jun...
I'm happy to tell you there is very little in this world that I believe in.1997, George Carlin, “Preface”, in Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page xi:
The couple is one of the celebrities who believed in open relationships.2017 June 23, “Is spokes model Cindy Margolis married or single after her divorce with Guy Starkman, Know her current affairs”, in...

All 40 example sentences with believe

Synonyms of believe

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of believe

Forms of believe

third-person singular present	believes
present participle	believing
past participle	believed
past	believed
second-person singular present (archaic)	believest
second-person singular past (archaic)	believedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	believeth
alternative form (obsolete)	beleeve

Past tense of believe: believed

Origin of believe

From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Old Frisian bilēva (“to permit”), Middle Dutch beloven (“to believe, entrust”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), Saterland Frisian leeuwe (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German Low German glöven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

Words formed from believe

Phrases with believe

Words that rhyme with believe

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about believe

What does believe mean?: Believe means to accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
What is believe in Hindi?: Believe in Hindi is सच्चा (saccā), सत्य (satya), मानना (mānnā). See Believe meaning in Hindi.
How do you use believe in a sentence?: He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.
What part of speech is believe?: Believe is a verb.
How do you pronounce believe?: Believe is pronounced /bɪˈliːv/ (UK).
What is the past tense of believe?: The past tense of believe is believed.

Words near believe in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-believe.ogg.

Cite this entry: “believe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/believe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.