What does doubt mean?

Definitions for doubt
daʊtdoubt

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word doubt.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. doubt, uncertainty, incertitude, dubiety, doubtfulness, dubiousnessnoun

    the state of being unsure of something

  2. doubt, dubiousness, doubtfulness, questionverb

    uncertainty about the truth or factuality or existence of something

    "the dubiousness of his claim"; "there is no question about the validity of the enterprise"

  3. doubtverb

    consider unlikely or have doubts about

    "I doubt that she will accept his proposal of marriage"

  4. doubtverb

    lack confidence in or have doubts about

    "I doubt these reports"; "I suspect her true motives"; "she distrusts her stepmother"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Doubtnoun

    Etymology: from the verb.

    Could any difficulty have been proposed, the resolution would have been as early as the proposal; it could not have had time to settle into doubt. Robert South, Sermons.

    Those who have examined it, are thereby got past doubt in all the doctrines they profess. John Locke.

    Hippocrates commends the flesh of the wild sow above the tame, and no doubt but the animal is more or less healthy according to the air it lives in. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

    ’Tis past a doubt,
    All Bedlam or Parnassus is let out. Alexander Pope.

    Our doubts are traytors,
    And make us lose, by fearing to attempt,
    The good we oft might win. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

    And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of thy life. Deutr. xxviii. 66.

    I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Gal. iv. 20.

    To every doubt your answer is the same,
    It so fell out, and so by chance it came. Richard Blackmore, Creation.

  2. To Doubtverb

    He from the terror of this arm so late
    Doubted his empire. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. i. l. 113.

    To teach vain wits a science little known,
    T’ admire superior sense, and doubt their own. Alexander Pope.

    He did ordain the interdicts and prohibitions which we have to making entrance of strangers, which at that time was frequent, doubting novelties and commixture of manners. Francis Bacon.

    You that will be less fearful than discreet,
    That love the fundamental part of state,
    More than you doubt the change of it, prefer
    A noble life before a long. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus.

  3. To DOUBTverb

    Etymology: doubter, French; dubito, Latin.

    Even in matters divine, concerning some things, we may lawfully doubt and suspend our judgment, inclining neither to one side or other; as, namely, touching the time of the fall both of man and angels. Richard Hooker, b. ii. s. 7.

    Let no man, while he lives here in the world, doubt whether there is any hell or no, and thereupon live so, as if absolutely there were none. Robert South, Sermons.

    I doubt not to make it appear to be a monstrous folly to deride these things. John Tillotson, Sermons.

    Can we conclude upon Luther’s instability, because in a single notion, no way fundamental, an enemy writes that he had some doubtings? Francis Atterbury.

    Doubting things go ill, often hurt more
    Than to be sure they do. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

    Solyman said he had hitherto made war against divers nations, and always had the victory, whereof he doubted not now also. Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

    Have I not manag’d my contrivance well,
    To try your love, and make you doubt of mine? Dryden.

    I doubt there’s deep resentment in his mind,
    For the late flight his honour suffer’d there. Thomas Otway, Orph.

    If there were no fault in the title, I doubt there are too many in the body of the work. Thomas Baker, on Learning.

    This is enough for a project, without any name; I doubt more than will be reduced into practice. Jonathan Swift.

    The king did all his courage bend
    Against those four which now before him were,
    Doubting not who behind him doth attend. Samuel Daniel, C. War.

    At first the tender blades of grass appear,
    And buds that yet the blast of Eurus fear,
    Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year. Dry.

Wikipedia

  1. Doubt

    Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty, distrust or lack of conviction on certain facts, actions, motives, or decisions. Doubt can result in delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concern for mistakes or missed opportunities.

ChatGPT

  1. doubt

    Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or skepticism about the truth, reliability, or validity of something, or a lack of confidence in one's own beliefs, judgments, or abilities. It involves questioning or hesitating before reaching a conclusion, often accompanied by a sense of disbelief or conflict of thoughts. Doubt can arise from a variety of factors, including lack of evidence, conflicting information, personal biases, or past experiences. It serves as a natural mechanism to encourage critical thinking and analysis for the purpose of seeking certainty or clarity.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Doubtverb

    to waver in opinion or judgment; to be in uncertainty as to belief respecting anything; to hesitate in belief; to be undecided as to the truth of the negative or the affirmative proposition; to b e undetermined

  2. Doubtverb

    to suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive

  3. Doubtverb

    to question or hold questionable; to withhold assent to; to hesitate to believe, or to be inclined not to believe; to withhold confidence from; to distrust; as, I have heard the story, but I doubt the truth of it

  4. Doubtverb

    to suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive of

  5. Doubtverb

    to fill with fear; to affright

  6. Doubtverb

    a fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation

  7. Doubtverb

    uncertainty of condition

  8. Doubtverb

    suspicion; fear; apprehension; dread

  9. Doubtverb

    difficulty expressed or urged for solution; point unsettled; objection

Wikidata

  1. Doubt

    Doubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for mistakes or faults or appropriateness. Some definitions of doubt emphasize the state in which the mind remains suspended between two contradictory propositions and unable to assent to either of them. The concept of doubt covers a range of phenomena: one can characterise both deliberate questioning of uncertainties and an emotional state of indecision as "doubt".

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Doubt

    dowt, v.i. to waver in opinion: to be uncertain: to hesitate: to suspect: to believe with fear or hesitation: (Scot.) to think, even without the sense of hesitation.—v.t. to hold in doubt: to distrust.—p.adj. Doubt′ed (Spens.), questioned: feared, redoubted. [O. Fr. douter—L. dubitāre, akin to dubius, doubtful, moving in two (duo) directions.]

  2. Doubt

    dowt, n. uncertainty of mind: suspicion: fear: a thing doubted or questioned.—adj. Doubt′able.—n. Doub′ter.—adj. Doubt′ful, full of doubt: undetermined: not clear: not secure: suspicious: not confident.—adv. Doubt′fully.—n. Doubt′fulness.—p.adj. Doubt′ing, that doubts, undecided.—advs. Doubt′ingly; Doubt′less, without doubt: certainly; Doubt′lessly.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. DOUBT

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Doubt is ranked #90113 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Doubt surname appeared 205 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Doubt.

    77% or 158 total occurrences were White.
    17.5% or 36 total occurrences were Black.
    3.4% or 7 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'doubt' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1623

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'doubt' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1859

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'doubt' in Nouns Frequency: #566

  4. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'doubt' in Verbs Frequency: #556

How to pronounce doubt?

How to say doubt in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of doubt in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of doubt in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of doubt in a Sentence

  1. George Burgess:

    There's something going on there, there's no doubt about that. It's a perfect storm of environmental and biological variables, as well as human activity.

  2. Pang Zhongying:

    By having a first-hand view on his visit to North Korea, Xi will be able to brief the U.S. leader and other leaders if needed, china no doubt hopes to show its influence in this respect at G-20 and North Korea will be paying attention.

  3. Debasish Mridha, M.D.:

    The worst enemies of success are fear and doubt.

  4. Mira Calton:

    We sounded the alarm back in 2013 and hoped people would understand what a slippery slope it is to have all of these foods that are genetically modified, obviously, we can't say without a doubt that GMOs are dangerous, but we can say that not enough human studies have been done. We don't want to be the guinea pigs.

  5. Nicholas Weaver:

    All this is to saythat there is relatively high confidence that these files contain genuine NSA material, without a doubt, they’re the keys to the kingdom.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

doubt#1#3643#10000

Translations for doubt

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"doubt." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/doubt>.

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