believe
pronunciation
How to pronounce believe in British English:
UK [bɪˈliːv]
How to pronounce believe in American English:
US [bɪˈliːv]
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- Verb:
- accept as true; take to be true
- judge or regard; look upon; judge
- be confident about something
- follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer
- credit with veracity
Word Origin
- believe
- believe: [OE] Believing and loving are closely allied. Late Old English belēfan took the place of an earlier gelēfan ‘believe’ (with the associative prefix ge-), which can be traced back to a prehistoric West and North Germanic *galaubjan (source also of German glauben ‘believe’). This meant ‘hold dear, love’, and hence ‘trust in, believe’, and it was formed on a base, *laub-, which also produced, by various routes, English love, lief ‘dear’, leave ‘permission’, and the second element of furlough.=> furlough, leave, lief, love
- believe (v.)
- Old English belyfan "to believe," earlier geleafa (Mercian), gelefa (Northumbrian), gelyfan (West Saxon) "believe," from Proto-Germanic *ga-laubjan "to believe," perhaps literally "hold dear, love" (cognates: Old Saxon gilobian "believe," Dutch geloven, Old High German gilouben, German glauben), ultimately a compound based on PIE *leubh- "to care, desire, love" (see belief). Spelling beleeve is common till 17c.; then altered, perhaps by influence of relieve, etc. To believe on instead of in was more common in 16c. but now is a peculiarity of theology; believe of also sometimes was used in 17c. Related: Believed (formerly occasionally beleft); believing. Expression believe it or not attested by 1874; Robert Ripley's newspaper cartoon of the same name is from 1918. Emphatic you better believe attested from 1854.
Example
- 1. And I believe we can .
- 2. No one will believe them .
- 3. Do you believe the rumors ?
- 4. And I believe we will .
- 5. She could not believe it .