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Obey vs Believe - What's the difference?

obey | believe |

In transitive terms the difference between obey and believe

is that obey is to do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of while believe is to accept that someone is telling the truth.

In intransitive terms the difference between obey and believe

is that obey is to do as one is told while believe is to have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.

obey

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
  • To do as one is told.
  • (obsolete) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iv:
  • They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].

    Antonyms

    * disobey * defy * rebel * resist * violate (especially rules )

    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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