beliefbe‧lief /bəˈliːf/ ●●● S3 W2 noun 
a strong belief in Godbelief that her sincere belief that her brother was not the murdererin the belief that Thieves broke into the building in the mistaken belief that there was expensive computer equipment inside.2[singular] the feeling that something is good and can be trustedbelief in If you’re selling, you have to have genuine belief in the product. When you get something wrong, it can shake your belief in yourself.3[countable] an idea that you believe to be true, especially one that forms part of a system of ideas: religious beliefs Several members hold very right-wing beliefs.4beyond belief used to emphasize that something is so extreme that it is difficult to believe: What she did was stupid beyond belief. → it beggars belief at beggar2(1), → to the best of your belief at best3(4), → disbelief, unbeliefCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa firm/strong belief· It is still my firm belief that we did the right thing.a strongly-held/deeply-held belief (=that you believe very much)· her strongly-held belief that things were much better in the pasta common/popular/widespread belief (=that a lot of people believe)· There is a common belief that educational standards are declining.a widely-held belief (=that a lot of people believe)· The article expressed the widely-held belief that unemployment leads to crime.a mistaken/false belief· the mistaken belief that cannabis is not an addictive druga sincere belief (=based on what you really feel is true)· We have a sincere belief in the power of art to enhance human life.a passionate belief· his passionate belief that technology is a tool to be used for the benefit of mankindverbshave a belief· You must always have the belief that you can succeed.hold a belief· He held this belief until the day he died.be based on the belief that …· Our policies must be based on the belief that the planet’s resources are finite.phrasesit is my belief that· It is my belief that most teachers are doing a good job.contrary to popular belief (=opposite to what most people think)· Contrary to popular belief, boys are not usually better at maths than girls.
WORD ORIGINbelief
Origin:
1100-1200 Probably from Old English geleafa ‘belief’, from leafa ‘belief, faith’; influenced by believeEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Contrary to popular belief, cold weather does not make you ill.
- People with a strong spiritual or philosophical belief system are more likely to remain healthy.
- She never lost her belief in God.
- Their experiments were based on the belief that you could make gold from other metals.
- They were put in prison because of their political beliefs.
- We need to learn to accept people who have different beliefs from ours.
- But the crucial step is to take responsibility for that belief.
- It is a central theme throughout the book, and she criticises frequently the Catholic beliefs and customs.
- This belief was obviously challenged by our presence, but he insisted that Tom and Terry had gone home.
- Unitarianism, a tolerant and loosely-defined system of belief, had attracted Coleridge since his Cambridge years.
- Whoever the commentator is, the opinions expressed are often only beliefs based on sketchy information that is only indirectly relevant.
THESAURUS
[countable, uncountable] a set of beliefs about a god, and the ceremonies and customs that go with these beliefs. Also used when talking about all religions in general: · Judaism is one of the great religions of the world.· African tribal religions· a lecture on the role of religion in society
[countable, uncountable] a religion, especially one of the large important world religions. Also used when talking about religious belief in general: · The school welcomes children of all faiths.· His religious faith was always deeply important to him.
[countable, uncountable] the act of believing in a god or gods, or the ideas that someone believes because of their religion: · We all have the right to freedom of belief.· They were persecuted because of their religious beliefs.
[countable] a religious group that has slightly different beliefs from other groups who belong to the same religion: · The church is the largest Christian denomination in the United States.
[countable] a group of people who have their own set of religious beliefs and customs, especially a group that has separated from a larger group: · He became a member of a Buddhist sect.· There are two sects in Islam - the Sunni and the Shi'a.· an obscure religious sect
[singular, uncountable] the Christian religion in general: · How great is the influence of the church in present-day society?· The church has a lot to say about this.
(also Church) [countable] one of the separate groups within the Christian religion: · the Methodist Church
[countable] an extreme religious group that is not part of an established religion – often used to show disapproval: · The suicides have been linked to a strange religious cult.· the traditional pagan cults of Ancient Rome
[countable, uncountable] formal the religion that you belong to, and the set of beliefs that you accept in order to belong to it – often used in phrases when saying that your religion should not affect how you are treated: · There must be no discrimination because of race, colour, or creed.· You will be rewarded whatever your race or creed.
[countable] formal a group of people who share the same religious beliefs – used especially in official contexts: · the benefits of living within a supportive faith community
Longman Language Activatorsomething that someone believes · We need to learn to accept people who have different beliefs from ours.belief that · Their experiments were based on the belief that you could make gold from other metals.belief in · She never lost her belief in God.political/religious beliefs · They were put in prison because of their political beliefs.belief system · People with a strong spiritual or philosophical belief system are more likely to remain healthy.contrary to popular belief (=despite what most people believe) · Contrary to popular belief, cold weather does not make you ill.
a strong belief that something is true or can be trusted, especially religious belief: faith in: · It was her faith in God that helped her survive the long years in prison.· He places a great deal of faith in people's honesty.shake somebody's faith (=make someone doubt what they believe): · The judge's decision shook her faith in the legal system.
a belief that some objects or actions are lucky and some are unlucky, based on old ideas of magic: · Some scientists view all religion as superstition.superstition that: · It's an old superstition that walking under a ladder is unlucky.
something that someone believes that is definitely not true a belief or idea that is false, especially a belief in something good about yourself or about the situation you are in: · She thought he loved her but it was just an illusion.· Alcohol gives some people the illusion of being witty and confident.illusion that: · There seems to be a widespread illusion that there are no class barriers anymore.under an illusion: · People had bought these houses under the illusion that their value would just keep on rising.
something that a lot of people believe but which is completely untrue: · The idea that a good night's sleep will cure everything is a complete fallacy.· It's a fallacy that all fat people are fat simply because they eat too much.
something a lot of people believe because they want to believe it, not because it is based on fact: · The first myth about motherhood is that new mothers instantly fall in love with their babies.· It is a myth that battered women deserve or want to be beaten.
a completely mistaken idea about yourself or the situation you are in, especially one that everyone else knows is wrong: · She now had to finally forget the dreams and delusions of her youthunder a delusion: · I was still under the delusion that everyone was trying to cheat me.
a belief you have that is wrong, although you do not realize it is wrong at the time when you have it: · When I started as a teacher I had the mistaken belief that all kids are interested in learning.
something that is not true but which people believe because they do not have all the facts or they have not properly understood the situation: · No, it's not actually true that rail travel is more expensive - that's a misconception.misconception that: · Employers seem to share the general misconception that young people are more efficient than older workers.
a popular belief or piece of advice that has existed for a long time but which you think is stupid: · It's not true that if trees have a lot of fruit in the autumn it will be a cold winter - that's just an old wives' tale.
a confident feeling the feeling that you have the ability to do things well, and to not make mistakes or be nervous in new situations: · You need patience and confidence to be a good teacher.have the confidence to do something: · "We have the confidence to beat Brazil," said Sampson.· After the accident it took a long time before she had the confidence to get back in a car again.full of confidence (=very confident): · I went into the test full of confidence, but it was more difficult than I had imagined.
a strong belief that you can do things well and that other people will like you, which means you behave confidently in most situations: · He's new in the job but he has plenty of self-confidence.· Studies show that girls tend to lose some of their self-confidence in their teenage years.· Students who get some kind of work experience develop greater self-confidence and better communication skills.
the level of confidence, satisfaction, and hope that people feel, especially a group of people who work together: low/high morale: · Morale among the soldiers has been low.keep up morale (=keep it at a high level): · They sang songs to keep up their morale until the rescuers arrived.
a feeling of calm confidence in your own abilities, especially because you have a lot of experience: · She envied the older woman's assurance.· Danby spoke to the committee with the self-assurance of an expert.
confidence in your own abilities, value, and judgment, which makes it likely that you will be successful at something: · You must have belief in yourself if you want to make it as an actor.· To acquire that level of skill requires years of training and an unfailing belief in yourself.
the feeling that you are someone who deserves to be liked and respected: · Getting a job did a lot for her self-esteem.· Sports should build a child's self-esteem, not damage it.
things that you believe because of your religion all the ideas that someone believes because of their religion: · Martin Luther King was assassinated because of his beliefs.· The religious beliefs and practices of Americans have hardly changed since the 1940s.· She refused to change her strongly-held beliefs.· They are acting in a way that directly contradicts Christian beliefs.
a strong belief in a particular god or religion: · In spite of all that has happened, somehow she has held onto her faith.· Instead of celebrating their religious faith, they are forced to conceal it for fear of reprisals.faith in: · Nothing could shake his faith in God.· The only reason I stayed in my marriage was because my faith in religion sustained me.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadjectives He clung to the hope that she would be cured. Our client hasn’t reached a firm decision on the matter yet. They had implicit faith in his powers. I don’t share her religious beliefs. I have never subscribed to the view that schooldays are the happiest days of your life.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
· It is still my firm belief that we did the right thing.
(=that you believe very much)· her strongly-held belief that things were much better in the past
(=that a lot of people believe)· There is a common belief that educational standards are declining.
(=that a lot of people believe)· The article expressed the widely-held belief that unemployment leads to crime.
· the mistaken belief that cannabis is not an addictive drug
(=based on what you really feel is true)· We have a sincere belief in the power of art to enhance human life.
· his passionate belief that technology is a tool to be used for the benefit of mankind
verbs· You must always have the belief that you can succeed.
· He held this belief until the day he died.
· Our policies must be based on the belief that the planet’s resources are finite.
phrases· It is my belief that most teachers are doing a good job.
(=opposite to what most people think)· Contrary to popular belief, boys are not usually better at maths than girls.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=impossible to repair, control, believe etc) Scott’s equipment was damaged beyond repair. The town centre had changed beyond all recognition. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the performance has had to be cancelled.
Scott’s equipment was damaged beyond repair. The town centre had changed beyond all recognition. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the performance has had to be cancelled. He clung to the hope that she would be cured.· Anti-war activists were put in prison for refusing to compromise their beliefs.
(=make you believe something more strongly) The expression on his face confirmed me in my suspicions.
The expression on his face confirmed me in my suspicions. Our client hasn’t reached a firm decision on the matter yet.· About one-third of the population has no belief in God.· Her faith in God helped her deal with her illness.
They had implicit faith in his powers.· We had a passionate belief in what we were doing.
· Contrary to popular belief, cats are solitary animals.
I don’t share her religious beliefs.· It was clear that the police did not share her opinion.
· We have a strong belief that everyone has the right to worship freely.
I have never subscribed to the view that schooldays are the happiest days of your life.· Culture stems from a society or community's experience traditions, basic beliefs, aspirations and ambitions.· The following basic beliefs underpin the discussion: 1.· They are the basic beliefs which ground all others, our epistemological foundations.· But his basic belief was so widespread that gay men themselves sometimes used it as a come-on.· By sticking to his own basic beliefs about attitude and playing style.· It derives from basic beliefs and traditions.· This distinction between foundations and superstructure, between basic and non-basic beliefs, is a structural one.· The thought of some basic beliefs being incorrigibly false is too horrific to countenance.
· He feels much of the opposition is based on the false belief that the incinerator will also handle toxic waste.· A false belief may nevertheless be justified.· We can not argue straightforwardly that a false belief can not be justified.· Here is one of the standard procedures that is used to test whether a child has an adult-like appreciation of false belief.· An alarming picture encapsulated a false belief.· And they have led them under the false belief that a negotiated solution was seriously pursued.· So the merger boom went on for a while, still fuelled by this false belief.· Not all false beliefs are relevant in this sense.
· What woman, in fact, however firm her beliefs, would not sacrifice her religion for her children?· Fighting Organizational Behavior Patterns Strong, healthy individuals have firm convictions and beliefs.· There was a firm belief among old-time ferreters that the ferrets needed to be vicious and half-starved to do their work well.· The reality, according to the new spirituality, is that our beliefs about the world attract experiences which con firm those beliefs.· A firm belief in the priesthood of all believers means that singing belongs to the whole congregation as well as to the choir.
· Such reports in a popular newspaper endorse a general belief in escalation.· There is a general belief that police commit nearly as many crimes as they prevent or solve.· The success of these individual desires not withstanding, general belief is that some form of compromise is most likely.· Such a general belief system can be termed a political ideology.· There is a general belief that the drowned are simply victims of bad weather in the strait.· What are your general beliefs about human nature?· The general belief was very slow.
· This can give rise to the mistaken belief that cocaine is not an addictive drug.· Cannabis may have few immediate withdrawal effects and this again may give rise to the mistaken belief that it is not addictive.· Such a deeply mistaken belief can only come from a citizen of a country with a disciplinarian attitude to politics.· The living turtle is then thrown back into the water, in the mistaken belief that it will re-grow its shell.· We should not pursue better conditions for prisoners in the mistaken belief that improved conditions will alone produce more orderly prisons.· It refers to the resurgence of manufacturing during the 1980s and the mistaken but widespread belief that manufacturing is still shrinking.· The court heard that Newton had snapped in the mistaken belief that his father was about to draw a gun on him.· Don't buy a hard bed in the mistaken belief that it is good for you.
· He wanted his personal belief and his professional expertness to come out as a single attribute.· When the media found out, his private exercise of his personal beliefs became a subject for public consumption.· The next stage of his personal beliefs is obscure.· She also remarked at the outset that her personal belief was that the category had no place in a psychiatric manual.· Within our immediate group we can learn to reconcile personal and group differences to the point of rejecting personal values and beliefs.· There are times when you have to put aside your personal beliefs.· This knowledge is not a matter of personal belief, but of a simple historical fact.· And, in rare candor under such circumstances, Chin answered two questions about his personal political beliefs.
· After thoroughly investigating their backgrounds and their political beliefs, he had approached them one by one.· In each country a sample of about one thousand respondents was interviewed regarding many aspects of their individual political beliefs and actions.· How we explained they interpreted and explained unemployment, and how it related to their other political beliefs and behaviour.· Indeed, a political belief that is widely held might be particularly immune to careful assessment.· If I have any political beliefs, they are best and quickest expressed in cliché terms.· Chapter 4 will examine some of the factors that might account for differences in the political beliefs of individuals within a society.· Spells in prison have never sapped his determination to fight for his political beliefs.· However, any relatively complete bundle of political beliefs could be termed a political ideology.
· Contrary to popular belief, Soviet economic sources provided rich picking for the researcher, as long as the right subject was chosen.· Contrary to popular belief by many, Memorial Day is not the day summer vacation begins.· Dryden's position was that popular belief in such beings was enough to justify their representation in poetry.· Contrary to popular belief a preference for boys over girls is not universal.· It is a popular belief that the worst horrors befall whoever invites the curse of a hijra.· In general, however, it was simply reinterpreting in new language a set of ancient popular beliefs.· The quality of work produced even by mathematicians appears to decline little over their careers, contrary to popular belief.· Actually, contrary to popular belief, hallucinations were not part of the original definition of schizophrenia.
· Today, there are many religious and secular beliefs open to us.· Do religious beliefs provide exemption from liability for child abuse?· As religious beliefs have constituted science, so scientific creeds have constituted an alternative religion.· For example, must teachers and students salute the flag or follow the curriculum if doing so violates their religious beliefs?· An example from the astronomical debates of the early seventeenth century may illuminate this selective role of religious belief.· The Court only examined and rejected a claim based on religious beliefs of immunity from an unquestioned general rule.· To pursue political objectives seriously, they must work with the very people whose religious beliefs are most antithetical to their own.· But teachers, too have religious beliefs and commitments.
· The internal conflicts caused by his strong Quaker beliefs and lack of prospects caused a breakdown when he was twenty-one.· It is my strong belief that reward and recognition go hand in hand.· A lot of mental patients have a strong belief in the occult listed on their personality profiles.· Chagrin A strong belief in the supernatural characterises communities of Romany gypsies.· Together with the Fantaisie Polonaise, it typically expresses his strong nationalistic beliefs.· The whole represents a strong belief in optimism and progress.· Yet so strong was the belief in a static universe that it persisted into the early twentieth century.· Underlying the disquiet was a strong current of belief that the act of going tieless was tantamount to social chaos!
· Exploitation by charlatans played a part, as did certain traditional beliefs.· The rest, hewing to more traditional belief, remained Orthodox; the Winslows were among them.· Moreover, religious and patriotic works fulfilled an important role in reaffirming traditional beliefs.· It also seems unlikely, despite long-held traditional belief, that the birth took place in Bethlehem.· Any culture, because it has to retain traditional customs and beliefs, has to be in a sense a conservative institution.· Many modernisation theorists would claim here strong evidence for the inhibiting effect of traditional beliefs on development.· The growing awareness of environmental and ecological issues often coincides with traditional beliefs and practices.· Thus the process of anchoring scientifically originated notions may not have such a devastating effect upon traditional beliefs.
· Why, in other words, should we want to get true beliefs rather than false ones?· Yet many people remain uncertain regarding his true beliefs.· There's no moral virtue in the truth of most of our true beliefs.· How then do we get true beliefs by observation?· The other differences between these different ways of acquiring true beliefs are irrelevant.· You will give your tellee a true belief: you will actually tell the truth.· Instead of looking directly for something one wants to get a true belief about, one can look instead for a sign.
· The findings led to a widespread belief that psychological tests were situation specific and therefore limited in their usefulness for personnel selection.· It provides a startling point for a discussion of the widespread belief that Richard Nixon was a brilliant maker of foreign policy.· Professor Budd's remarks echo a widespread belief in the City that the Government needs to develop a credible monetary strategy.· Protestant endeavours to extinguish popular superstitions and the widespread belief in magical remedies also proved largely futile.· But, despite a widespread belief, this is not due to job insecurity.· Especially in the United States, a widespread belief exists that people should actively seek ways of developing themselves.· There is a widespread belief that the Age of Enlightenment has run its course.· It refers to the resurgence of manufacturing during the 1980s and the mistaken but widespread belief that manufacturing is still shrinking.
NOUN· In healthy organizations, this core belief sys-tem serves as a source of guidance.· All organizations have some sort of core belief system.· If both core beliefs and the actions they inspire are healthy, the organization will ultimately succeed in achieving its long-term goals.· Banished from the official organizational history, the memory of these unpleasant side effects lingers in the form of unhealthy core beliefs.· Because they describe an objective reality, descriptive core beliefs are simply valid or invalid.· That something is whether or not your organization has a healthy system of valid core beliefs and realistic fears.· Evaluative core beliefs, however, are often highly subjective.· They dwell instead on invalid core beliefs and the kinds of mythical fear that such beliefs nearly always inspire.
· One such belief system is, of course, sexism.· But after a summer in Trinidad, he realized he had only scratched the surface of the eclectic and complex belief system.· The Christians however seemed to be a quite different species, unlike any other foreign belief system they had yet encountered.· Can you characterize your own political belief system?· We attract certain people and events of our belief systems.· Buddha established his belief system built around the principles of self-restraint and caring for the poor.· Fundamentalism is a belief system that can not be refuted because it comes from a supreme being.· An ideology is simply the elevation of a particular set of perceptions, assumptions, and analyses to a normative belief system.
VERB· He feels much of the opposition is based on the false belief that the incinerator will also handle toxic waste.· It is based on a threefold belief that: 1.· Their support is based on a belief that the left governments have clean hands and have improved municipal services.· Both said they based their beliefs on news reports describing the crash, and on their experience.· If it is subjective, then it is based on the beliefs of the defendant.· The Court only examined and rejected a claim based on religious beliefs of immunity from an unquestioned general rule.· They are generally based on the belief in health as the result of a harmonious whole.· They based their belief in part on the confession of an outlaw Navajo named Jack Crank.
· This tremendous progress of conventional medicine in the present century has confirmed belief in the treatment by opposites.· When tomographic maps later showed a patch of warm rock beneath that spot, it further confirmed his belief.· The effect of our experience was, as I shall show, to confirm and extend that belief.· And many studies are flawed by the tendency of researchers to look for information that confirms their own beliefs.· The watchers were quiet and soulful, as if the flames confirmed their deep beliefs about life here.· Writers reached for a means suasion and began to use emotion to confirm beliefs.· That pleased and flattered her, confirmed her in her belief in herself.· I watch the news, and it only confirms my belief, you know?
· There is nothing glib or rhetorical about Freeman's way of expressing her beliefs.· Only now the statement expresses the belief in a particular relationship.· That leaves open the possibility, however, that some declarative sentences or statements are not factual and express something other than beliefs.· However, the theory allows that a statement can express both a belief and an attitude.· The themes used express the beliefs of the Church in a language accessible to children and teachers.· Together with the Fantaisie Polonaise, it typically expresses his strong nationalistic beliefs.
· Along with many of his contemporaries, Mercator held the Baconian belief that knowledge should be exploited for utilitarian ends.· Critical assessment of long held beliefs is the first step to new interpretation of historical events and other so called scientific truths.· Do you hold any specific beliefs about what might be called beauty?· We are of the deeply held belief that many human beings have come to behave as materialistic tyrants.· It was the commonly held belief then that never again would this communal beast be allowed to rear its head.· But why should a family hold on to a belief regardless of its truth?· Ten years later, his new book shows that he no longer holds such a belief.· Groups of work-inhibited students may reinforce mutually held beliefs that school is a negative environment.
· The last fifty years of work in Al suggests that this may be a mistaken belief.
· The concerns of older people about their future health care probably reflect beliefs about modern medicine and priorities within the medical profession.· They reflect a belief that they are working with people, not with systems.· Only in a few cases, as at Brading, do they reflect any deeply held beliefs or cult practices.· His reality accurately reflected his belief system.· Does it reflect your belief that you are hopelessly absent-minded?· Since our beliefs create our experiences, Cathy's love life faithfully reflected her mixed-up beliefs.· Until recently company law, with its relative freedom from stringent regulations, reflected this national belief.· This may reflect teachers' beliefs that mathematics by its nature is learned most effectively in groups of homogeneous ability.
· For Buckle, this laid the foundations for a thoroughgoing science of history, and others shared his belief.· Sezer shares the military's belief in republican and secular values.· All individuals with sophisticated belief systems do not necessarily share the same core beliefs.· Milan coach Fabio Capello did not share the belief they would be able to play more freely now the record was gone.· And it is helped immeasurably if two unrelated people can share in the belief that indeed they are already blood relatives.· In consequence, both share a central belief in displaying speech as evidence.· Liberals, Sowell claims, share a belief that people can improve their lives through collective effort.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► to the best of your knowledge/belief/ability etc► betray your beliefs/principles/ideals etc► shake somebody’s confidence/beliefs etc
- And the saluting was beyond belief.
- Did I just frighten you beyond belief?
- I think this is idolatry beyond belief.
- She was tired, tired beyond belief.
- The media are dull beyond belief because of the heavy censorship.
- These proposals are ridiculous beyond belief.
- They have been slashed and burned and damaged beyond belief.
- What Clemens did next was almost beyond belief.
- Harry, that awful, awful singing beggars belief.
- In Gravity's Rainbow, conspiracies proliferate to such an extent that they beggar description.
- The initial radio message had beggared belief.
- The thought of la belle dame de Bruges coming out with such stuff beggars belief.
- The waste, deaths, brutality and destruction of property beggar description.
- What she found there still beggars belief.
- Contrary to popular belief, gorillas are shy and gentle creatures.
- Actually, contrary to popular belief, hallucinations were not part of the original definition of schizophrenia.
- And contrary to popular belief, we don't want to wear the trousers at home.
- Above all, it requires the steady cultivation of healthy core beliefs that will shore up the organization when setbacks occur.
- Actions are core beliefs put into practice.
- Banished from the official organizational history, the memory of these unpleasant side effects lingers in the form of unhealthy core beliefs.
- Because they describe an objective reality, descriptive core beliefs are simply valid or invalid.
- If both core beliefs and the actions they inspire are healthy, the organization will ultimately succeed in achieving its long-term goals.
- Organizational fears are emotional responses to core beliefs.
- That something is whether or not your organization has a healthy system of valid core beliefs and realistic fears.
- What made Reagan extraordinary, beyond his communicative skills, was his resolute adherence to core beliefs.
- His changeable features, his tones, gestures and expressions seemed to defy descriptions.
- His swerve was something that defied analysis; just as it defied attempts to counter it.
- It defies belief and makes you question exactly who the law is protecting here: the sick minds or their young victims?
- Like the secret of Stradivari's varnish, this extra dimension defies analysis.
- The dam defied description; it defied belief.
- Two other women lay upon the counter a pickle-bottle and a glass vessel of a kind which altogether defies description.
- Yet other species exhibit variation patterns that defy analysis of the sophistication of present-day biology.
- That overcautious disposition was noticed long ago, but there was a fond hope that experience would cure it.
- A thin, friendly man, he often gave the mistaken impression that nothing was too much trouble.
- Cannabis may have few immediate withdrawal effects and this again may give rise to the mistaken belief that it is not addictive.
- People have a mistaken idea about artists.
- Such a deeply mistaken belief can only come from a citizen of a country with a disciplinarian attitude to politics.
- That can lead to the mistaken impression that the principles do not fit businesses involved in services.
- The foregoing paragraphs dispose, it is hoped, of some mistaken ideas as to the state and progress of sexuality in adulthood.
- The most mistaken idea is that you can Xerox people and somehow clone a fully grown adult.
- This can give rise to the mistaken belief that cocaine is not an addictive drug.
WORD FAMILYnounbeliefdisbeliefbelieveradjectivebelievable ≠ unbelievabledisbelievingverbbelieve ≠ disbelieveadverbunbelievably
1[singular, uncountable] the feeling that something is definitely true or definitely existsbelief in a strong belief in Godbelief that her sincere belief that her brother was not the murdererin the belief that Thieves broke into the building in the mistaken belief that there was expensive computer equipment inside.2[singular] the feeling that something is good and can be trustedbelief in If you’re selling, you have to have genuine belief in the product. When you get something wrong, it can shake your belief in yourself.3[countable] an idea that you believe to be true, especially one that forms part of a system of ideas: religious beliefs Several members hold very right-wing beliefs.4beyond belief used to emphasize that something is so extreme that it is difficult to believe: What she did was stupid beyond belief. → it beggars belief at beggar2(1), → to the best of your belief at best3(4), → disbelief, unbeliefCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa firm/strong belief· It is still my firm belief that we did the right thing.a strongly-held/deeply-held belief (=that you believe very much)· her strongly-held belief that things were much better in the pasta common/popular/widespread belief (=that a lot of people believe)· There is a common belief that educational standards are declining.a widely-held belief (=that a lot of people believe)· The article expressed the widely-held belief that unemployment leads to crime.a mistaken/false belief· the mistaken belief that cannabis is not an addictive druga sincere belief (=based on what you really feel is true)· We have a sincere belief in the power of art to enhance human life.a passionate belief· his passionate belief that technology is a tool to be used for the benefit of mankindverbshave a belief· You must always have the belief that you can succeed.hold a belief· He held this belief until the day he died.be based on the belief that …· Our policies must be based on the belief that the planet’s resources are finite.phrasesit is my belief that· It is my belief that most teachers are doing a good job.contrary to popular belief (=opposite to what most people think)· Contrary to popular belief, boys are not usually better at maths than girls.