BELIEVE

believe (third-person singular simple present believes, present participle believing, simple past and past participle believed)

(transitive) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing). synonym ▲quotations ▼Synonym: understand

If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.

I believe there are faeries.

(transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth. synonyms ▲Synonyms: trust, (Cockney rhyming slang) Adam and Eve

Why did I ever believe you?

(intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth. quotations ▼

After that night in the church, I believed.

Do you think this is good? —Hmm, I believe it's okay.

The transitive verb believe and the phrasal verb believe in 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.
This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs