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Hope vs Believe - What's the difference?

hope | believe |

As verbs the difference between hope and believe

is that hope is to want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might while believe is to accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing.

As a noun hope

is the belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.

As a proper noun Hope

is {{given name|female|from=English}} from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans.

hope

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) hope, from (etyl) .

Noun

  • (uncountable) The belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out.}}
  • (countable) The actual thing wished for.
  • (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope.
  • (Christianity) The virtuous desire for future good.
  • * The Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:13
  • But now abideth faith, hope , love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
    Derived terms
    * Cape of Good Hope * forlorn hope * great white hope * have one's hope dashed * hope against hope * hope chest * hopeful * hopeless * hoper * hope springs eternal * no-hoper * out of hope * overhope * unhope * wanhope

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) hopen, from (etyl) hopian.

    Verb

    (hop)
  • To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}
  • To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
  • (obsolete) To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in .
  • * Bible, Psalms cxix. 81
  • I hope in thy word.
  • * Bible, Psalms xlii. 11
  • Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.
    Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See
    Derived terms
    * hoped for
    See also
    * aspire * desire * expect * look forward * want

    Etymology 3

    Compare Icelandic word for a small bay or inlet.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
  • (Scotland) A small bay; an inlet; a haven.
  • (Jamieson)
    (Webster 1913)

    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

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