believe (original) (raw)
Strangely, no one believed us when we told them we'd been visited by a creature from Mars.
"Is she coming alone?" "We believe not/so (= we think she is not/is)."
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- believeCan we believe a word of what this man says?
- acceptMost people accept what the newspapers say as being correct.
- creditUK It’s hard to credit that she’s 87.
- swallowI personally find it hard to swallow the official narrative.
- buyWhen it comes to global warming, he doesn't buy it, and is out to discredit the whole theory.
not believe a word of it
to not believe that something is true:
He told me she was just a friend, but I don't believe a word of it!
believe it or not B1 (also would you believe it?)
if you believe that, you'll believe anything informal
He said the car in front backed into him, and if you believe that, you'll believe anything!
More examplesFewer examples
- He claims to have met the president, but I don't believe him.
- I still believe that people are fundamentally good.
- I don't believe that story for a moment.
- It's hard to believe there's anything wrong with him - he looks so healthy.
- I don't believe they should have put him in prison. It isn't right.
Idioms
Phrasal verbs
(Definition of believe from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of believe
believe
There was thus a clear awareness of a political role that he believed he has been assigned to play.
Often, however, those who believed in the possibility of transformation saw it as a threat.
Cultural activities in the region may have been greater than currently believed to be the case.
The diary was maintained by participants for only one week since it was believed longer would be taxing.
Providers identified a range of factors which they believed contributed to the inadequacy of such an approach.
The difference is produced over what one believes to be missing.
First, they believed codification crystallized the law, preventing changes necessary in a period of rapid economic and social development.
Trusting beliefs: the extent to which the truster believes characteristics of the trustee.
Although relativist positions are getting more attention, he believes that it is crucial that research continue on universal features of language.
He believes that it is, therefore, possible to achieve the same result with fewer sessions.
Both parties believed that they could achieve with certainty at least this outcome.
He wanted to be serious, mistakenly believing that serious is more important than funny.
The best rock, he believes, 'simultaneously achieves a synthesis of evanescent junk and lasting beauty and sets up a conflict between them' (p. 36).
Fourthly, he stands for professional modesty, believing that historians must accept that certain events escape their ability to explain.
Workers and their families wanted control over private space and believed in solidarity.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.