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What is the difference between belief and opinion?

belief | opinion |

As nouns the difference between belief and opinion

is that belief is mental acceptance of a claim as likely true while opinion is a belief that a person has formed about a topic or issue.

As a verb opinion is

to have or express as an opinion.

belief

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Mental acceptance of a claim as likely true.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-12-06, author=(George Monbiot)
  • , volume=189, issue=26, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Why I'm eating my words on veganism – again , passage=The belief that there is no conflict between [livestock] farming and arable production also seems to be unfounded: by preventing the growth of trees and other deep vegetation in the hills and by compacting the soil, grazing animals cause a cycle of flash floods and drought, sporadically drowning good land downstream and reducing the supply of irrigation water.}}
  • Faith or trust in the reality of something; often based upon one's own reasoning, trust in a claim, desire of actuality, and/or evidence considered.
  • (countable) Something believed.
  • (uncountable) The quality or state of believing.
  • (uncountable) Religious faith.
  • (in the plural) One's religious or moral convictions.
  • Derived terms

    * * beyond belief * disbelief * self-belief * unbelief

    opinion

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A belief that a person has formed about a topic or issue.
  • I would like to know your opinions on the new systems.
    In my opinion , white chocolate is better than milk chocolate.
    Every man is a fool in some man's opinion .
    Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. -
  • The judgment or sentiment which the mind forms of persons or things; estimation.
  • * 1606 , , I. vii. 32:
  • I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people.
  • * South
  • Friendship gives a man a peculiar right and claim to the good opinion of his friend.
  • (obsolete) Favorable estimation; hence, consideration; reputation; fame; public sentiment or esteem.
  • * 1597 , , V. iv. 47:
  • Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion .
  • * Milton
  • This gained Agricola much opinion , who enterprises.
  • (obsolete) Obstinacy in holding to one's belief or impression; opiniativeness; conceitedness.
  • * 1590 , , V. i. 5:
  • Your reasons at / dinner have been sharp and sententious, pleasant / without scurrility, witty without affection, audacious / without impudency, learned without opinion , and / strange without heresy.
  • The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a doctor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted.
  • (European Union law) a judicial opinion delivered by an Advocate General to the European Court of Justice where he or she proposes a legal solution to the cases for which the court is responsible
  • Derived terms

    * advisory opinion * be of the opinion * in my humble opinion/IMHO * in my opinion * in one's opinion * opinion poll * public opinion * scientific opinion * second opinion

    See also

    * fact

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To have or express as an opinion.
  • * 1658', But if (as some '''opinion ) King ''Ahasuerus'' were ''Artaxerxes Mnemon'' [...], our magnified ''Cyrus'' was his second Brother — Sir Thomas Browne, ''The Graden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 166)
  • Statistics

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