How do you use the word "believe" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "believe" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "believe": It's no use pretending to make me believe that I believe things you don't believe! What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

Believe Meaning

/bɪˈliːv/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).

verbTo accept that someone is telling the truth.

Sentence Examples

It's no use pretending to make me believe that I believe things you don't believe!

What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

I cannot believe the price of the tickets!

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

think consider trust

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

I ____ you when you say you saw a UFO last night.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Do you ____ that there is life on other planets in our vast galaxy?.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laubijaną Proto-West Germanic *laubijan Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan Old English belīefan Middle English bileven English believe From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Old Frisian bilēva (“to permit”), Middle Dutch beloven (“to believe, entrust”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), Saterland Frisian leeuwe (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German Low German glöven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"FOꝛaſmuch as many haue taken in hande to ſet fooꝛth in oꝛder a declaration of thoſe things which are most ſurely beleeued among vs[…]" — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:

"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." — 1898 September 26, Alexander E. Outerbridge Jr., “Curiosities of American Coinage”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 53, D. Appleton & Company, page 601:

"[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." — 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025:

"BEloued, beleeue not euery ſpirit, but trie the ſpirits, whether they are of God: becauſe many falſe prophets are gone out into the woꝛld." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 4:1:

"[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, […]" — 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40:

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