believe

verb

1. (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.”

   “FOꝛaſmuch as many haue taken in hande to ſet fooꝛth in oꝛder a declaration of thoſe things which are most ſurely beleeued among vs[…]”

   “Many persons believe that the so-called "dollar of the daddies," weighing 412½ grains (nine tenths fine), having a ratio to gold of "16 to 1" in value when first coined, was the original dollar of the Constitution.”

   “[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.”

2. (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.”

3. (transitive)To have been persuaded to accept the factuality of something despite a lack of sufficient evidence therefore.
4. (transitive)To have been persuaded to accept the factuality of something despite a lack of sufficient evidence therefore.
5. (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, […]”

6. (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.””

   “He believes that self-improvement and its growing popularity are symptoms of what he calls individualism.”

7. [with in]

   “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.”

8. [with in]

   “I don't believe in sex before marriage.”

   “I don't believe in making my bed.”

   “I'm happy to tell you there is very little in this world that I believe in.”

   “The couple is one of the celebrities who believed in open relationships.”

9. [with in]

   “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.”