Believe vs Guess - What's the difference?
believe | guess | Related terms |
(label) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing)
* 1611 , (King James Version of the Bible), 1:1 :
*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To accept that someone is telling the truth.
(label) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
(chiefly, US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
* Shakespeare
* Alexander Pope
*
(obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
* Shakespeare
A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
*
As verbs the difference between believe and guess
is that believe is to accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing while guess is to reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.As a noun guess is
a prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.believe
English
Alternative forms
* beleeve (obsolete)Verb
(believ)- (Here, the speaker merely accepts the accuracy of the conditional.)
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us
Magician’s brain, passage=[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.}}
Usage notes
* The transitive verb believe and the phrasal verb (m) are similar but can have very different implications. ** To “believe” someone or something means to accept specific pieces of information as truth: believe the news'', ''believe the lead witness . To “believe a complete stranger” means to accept a stranger's story with little evidence. ** To “believe in” someone or something means to hold confidence and trust in that person or concept: believe in liberty'', ''believe in God . To “believe in one's fellow man” means to place trust and confidence in mankind. * Meanings sometimes overlap. To believe in'' a religious text would also require affirming the truth of at least the major tenets. To ''believe a religious text might likewise imply placing one's confidence and trust in it, in addition to accepting its statements as facts.Derived terms
* believable * believability * believer * believe in * believe it or not * believe one's eyes * believe you me * disbelieve * unbelievable * unbelieverStatistics
* ----guess
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
- He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
- That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
- Not all together; better far, I guess , / That we do make our entrance several ways.
- But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
- Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
Synonyms
* hypothesize * take a stab * speculateDerived terms
* foreguess * guess what * guessable * guesser * guessing game * guesstimate * guesswork * keep someone guessing * no prize for guessing * out-guess * second-guess * you'll never guessEtymology 2
From (etyl) gesse. Cognate with (etyl) .Noun
(es)- If you don't know the answer, take a guess .