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Hope vs Doubt - What's the difference?

hope | doubt |

As nouns the difference between hope and doubt

is that hope is the belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen while doubt is uncertainty, disbelief.

As verbs the difference between hope and doubt

is that hope is to want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might while doubt is to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, question, or suspect.

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)

    doubt

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (wikipedia doubt)
  • Uncertainty, disbelief.
  • *
  • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ambitransitive) To lack confidence in; to disbelieve, question, or suspect.
  • He doubted that was really what you meant.
  • * Hooker
  • Even in matters divine, concerning some things, we may lawfully doubt
  • * Dryden
  • To try your love and make you doubt of mine.
  • (archaic) To fear; to suspect.
  • * 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , I.186:
  • He fled, like Joseph, leaving it; but there, / I doubt , all likeness ends between the pair.
  • (obsolete) To fear; to be apprehensive of.
  • * R. of Gloucester
  • Edmond [was a] good man and doubted God.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I doubt some foul play.
  • * Spenser
  • I of doubted danger had no fear.
  • (obsolete) To fill with fear; to affright.
  • *
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • The virtues of the valiant Caratach / More doubt me than all Britain.