Princeton's WordNet(2.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. belief(noun)

   any cognitive content held as true

2. impression, feeling, belief, notion, opinion(noun)

   a vague idea in which some confidence is placed

   "his impression of her was favorable"; "what are your feelings about the crisis?"; "it strengthened my belief in his sincerity"; "I had a feeling that she was lying"

Wiktionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. belief(Noun)

   Mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting or contrary empirical evidence.

2. belief(Noun)

   Something believed.

   The ancient people have a belief in many deities.

3. belief(Noun)

   The quality or state of believing.

   My belief that it will rain tomorrow is strong.

4. belief(Noun)

   Religious faith.

   She often said it was her belief that carried her through the hard times.

5. belief(Noun)

   One's religious or moral convictions.

   I can't do that. It's against my beliefs.

Origin: from leafa.

Webster Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Belief(noun)

   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 testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses

2. Belief(noun)

   a persuasion of the truths of religion; faith

3. Belief(noun)

   the thing believed; the object of belief

4. Belief(noun)

   a tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any class of views; doctrine; creed

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Belief

   Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. Dispositional and occurrent belief concerns the contextual activation of the belief into thoughts or ideas.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Belief

   a word of various application, but properly definable as that which lies at the heart of a man or a nation's convictions, or is the heart and soul of all their thoughts and actions, "the thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain concerning his vital relations to this mysterious universe, and his duty and destiny there."

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'belief' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1979

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'belief' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4498

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'belief' in Nouns Frequency: #623

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of belief in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of belief in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

1. Kenyan Proverb:

   Blind belief is dangerous.

2. Robert A. Heinlein:

   Belief gets in the way of learning.

3. Robert Anton Wilson:

   Belief is the death of intelligence.

4. Thomas Paine:

   Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.

5. Mary McCarthy:

   The happy ending is our national belief.

Images & Illustrations of belief