Noun

(en noun)

Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.

surmises of jealousy or of envy

* Jonathan Swift

No man ought to be charged with principles he actually disowns, unless his practices contradict his profession; not upon small surmises .

* 1919 ,

The meeting had been devoid of incident. No word had been said to give me anything to think about, and any surmises I might make were unwarranted. I was intrigued.

Reflection; thought; posit.

(Shakespeare)

Noun

(en noun)

Mental acceptance of a claim as likely true.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-12-06, author=(George Monbiot)

, volume=189, issue=26, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Why I'm eating my words on veganism – again , passage=The belief that there is no conflict between [livestock] farming and arable production also seems to be unfounded: by preventing the growth of trees and other deep vegetation in the hills and by compacting the soil, grazing animals cause a cycle of flash floods and drought, sporadically drowning good land downstream and reducing the supply of irrigation water.}}

Faith or trust in the reality of something; often based upon one's own reasoning, trust in a claim, desire of actuality, and/or evidence considered.

(countable) Something believed.

(uncountable) The quality or state of believing.

(uncountable) Religious faith.

(in the plural) One's religious or moral convictions.