Believe vs Think - What's the difference?
believe | think |
(label) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing)
* 1611 , (King James Version of the Bible), 1:1 :
*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To accept that someone is telling the truth.
(label) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
(label) To ponder, to go over in one's head.
:
*
*:So this was my future home, I thought ! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (label) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
:
To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of'''; infrequently, by '''on ).
:
(label) To be of the opinion (that).
:
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
(label) To guess; to reckon.
:
(label) To consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
:
*, chapter=1
, title= To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
*Sir (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe)
*:The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
To presume; to venture.
*(Bible), (w) iii. 9
*:Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
:
(label) To seem, to appear.
*:
In transitive terms the difference between believe and think
is that believe is to accept that someone is telling the truth while think is to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.In intransitive terms the difference between believe and think
is that believe is to have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth while think is to seem, to appear.As a noun think is
an act of thinking; consideration (of something).believe
English
Alternative forms
* beleeve (obsolete)Verb
(believ)- (Here, the speaker merely accepts the accuracy of the conditional.)
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us
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.}}
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 * unbelieverStatistics
* ----think
English
Alternative forms
* thinck (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from (etyl) .Verb
Revenge of the nerds, passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”}}
Synonyms
* (sense, communicate to oneself in one's mind) cogitate, ponder, reflect, ruminate; see also * opine; see also * guess (US), imagine, reckon, suppose * consider, deem, find, judge, regard; see alsoDerived terms
* rethink * think about * thinker * thinko * think of * think on one's feet * think out * think over * think piece * think the world of * think twice * think up * think with one's little head * unthinkableNoun
(en-noun)Derived terms
* badthink * doublethink * goodthink * groupthink * have another think coming * rethink (noun, as in "have a rethink")Etymology 2
From (etyl)Verb
think' (''obsolete except in archaic'' ' methinks )- And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne / he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree // And then he leid hym doune to slepe / And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym / the whiche sayd A launcelot of euylle feythe and poure byleue / wherfor is thy wille tourned soo lyghtely toward thy dedely synne