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Fear vs Unbelief - What's the difference?

fear | unbelief |

As nouns the difference between fear and unbelief

is that fear is (uncountable: unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger) A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat while unbelief is an absence (or rejection) of belief, especially religious belief.

As a verb fear

is to cause fear to; to frighten.

As an adjective fear

is able; capable; stout; strong; sound.

fear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) feer, fere, fer, from (etyl) . The verb is from (etyl) feren, from (etyl) , from the noun.

Noun

  • (lb) A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.}}
  • *
  • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear .
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police
  • (lb) A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone.
  • *
  • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
  • (lb) Extreme veneration or awe, as toward a supreme being or deity.
  • * Bible, (w)
  • I will put my fear in their hearts.
  • * Bible, (Psalms)
  • I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
    Synonyms
    * , terror, fright * , anxiety, apprehension * (extreme veneration) awe, reverence, veneration * See also
    Derived terms
    * affear * fearful * fearless * fearmonger * fearnaught * fearsome * no fear

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause fear to; to frighten.
  • * :
  • Thenne the knyghte sayd to syre Gawayn / bynde thy wounde or thy blee chaunge / for thou bybledest al thy hors and thy fayre armes // For who someuer is hurte with this blade he shalle neuer be staunched of bledynge / Thenne ansuerd gawayn hit greueth me but lytyl / thy grete wordes shalle not feare me ne lasse my courage
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs.
  • (label) To feel fear about (something); to be afraid of; to consider or expect with alarm.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I greatly fear my money is not safe.
  • *
  • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear —man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Mark Tran
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=1, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Denied an education by war , passage=One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools
  • (lb) To venerate; to feel awe towards.
  • (lb) Regret.
  • (lb) To be anxious or solicitous for.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children, thereforeI fear you.
  • (lb) To suspect; to doubt.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Fear you not her courage?
    Synonyms
    * be afraid of, be frightened of, be scared of, be terrorised/terrorized be * (venerate) be in awe of, revere, venerate
    Derived terms
    * fear not * God-fearing * never fear

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fere, feore, from (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (dialectal) Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.
  • hale and fear

    Statistics

    *

    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