belief
- belief
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/bi leef"/, n.
1. something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.
2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.
3. confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.
4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.
[
1125-75; earlier bile(e)ve (n. use of v.); r. ME bileave, equiv. to bi- BE- + leave; cf. OE geleafa (c. D geloof, G Glaube; akin to Goth galaubeins)]
Syn. 1. view, tenet, conclusion, persuasion.
2. assurance. BELIEF, CERTAINTY, CONVICTION refer to acceptance of, or confidence in, an alleged fact or body of facts as true or right without positive knowledge or proof. BELIEF is such acceptance in general:
belief in astrology. CERTAINTY indicates unquestioning belief and positiveness in one's own mind that something is true:
I know this for a certainty. CONVICTION is settled, profound, or earnest belief that something is right:
a conviction that a decision is just. 4. doctrine, dogma.
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a mental attitude of acceptance or assent toward a proposition without the full intellectual knowledge required to guarantee its truth. Believing is either an intellectual judgment or, as the 18th-century Scottish Skeptic David Hume maintained, a special sort of feeling with overtones that differ from those of disbelief. Beliefs have been distinguished according to their degree of certainty: a surmise or suspicion, an opinion, or a conviction. Belief becomes knowledge only when the truth of a proposition becomes evident to the believer. Belief
in someone or something is basically different from belief
that a proposition is true.
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Universalium.
2010.
:
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 — 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… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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
