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Believe vs Evidence - What's the difference?

believe | evidence |

As a verb believe

is (label) to accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (ie, as opposed to knowing).

As a noun evidence is

obviousness, clearness.

believe

English

Alternative forms

* beleeve (obsolete)

Verb

(believ)
  • (label) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing)
  • (Here, the speaker merely accepts the accuracy of the conditional.)
  • * 1611 , (King James Version of the Bible), 1:1 :
  • Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= 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.}}
  • (label) To accept that someone is telling the truth.
  • (label) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
  • 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 * unbeliever

    Statistics

    * ----

    evidence

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=106, magazine=(w) , title= Pixels or Perish , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence , for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • (legal) Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2004, date=April 15, work=The Scotsman
  • , title= Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer , passage=For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year. }}
  • One who bears witness.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott)
  • infamous and perjured evidences

    Derived terms

    * anecdotal evidence * circumstantial evidence * evidence-based medicine * hearsay evidence

    Derived terms

    * after-discovered evidence * clear and convincing evidence * demurrer to evidence * preponderance of evidence, preponderance of the evidence * self-evidence

    Verb

    (evidenc)
  • To provide evidence for, or suggest the truth of.
  • She was furious, as evidenced by her slamming the door.