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Disbelief vs Unbelief - What's the difference?

disbelief | unbelief |

As nouns the difference between disbelief and unbelief

is that disbelief is unpreparedness, unwillingness, or inability to believe that something is the case while unbelief is an absence (or rejection) of belief, especially religious belief.

disbelief

English

Noun

  • Unpreparedness, unwillingness, or inability to believe that something is the case.
    • She cried out in disbelief on hearing that terrorists had crashed an airplane into the World Trade Center in New York City.
  • Astonishment.
    • I stared in disbelief at the Grand Canyon.
  • The loss or abandonment of a belief; cessation of belief.
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    • Synonyms

    * incredulity

    Related terms

    * * * disbelieve

    References

    * * *

    unbelief

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An absence (or rejection) of belief, especially religious belief
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Mark VI:
    • And he coulde there shewe no myracles butt leyd his hondes apon a feawe sicke foolke and healed them. And he merveyled at their unbelefe .
  • * 1931 , (William Faulkner), Sanctuary , Vintage 1993, p. 35:
    • On hands and knees he looked at the empty siding and up at the sunfilled sky with unbelief and despair.
  • * 2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, p. 781:
    • Soon Spinoza was regarded as the standard-bearer for unbelief , even though pervading his carefully-worded writings there is a clear notion of a divine spirit inhabiting the world, and a profound sense of wonder and reverence for mystery.

    See also

    * disbelief * doubt