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BELIEVING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The cognitive process that leads to convictions
Example:
seeing is believing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("believing" is a kind of...):
basic cognitive process (cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "believing"):
doublethink (believing two contradictory ideas at the same time)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb believe
Context examples:
I could not sleep unless it was folded in my night-gown; and when it lay there safe and warm, I was comparatively happy, believing it to be happy likewise.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
One of the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, believing her to be with the company.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If 'genius is eternal patience', as Michelangelo affirms, Amy had some claim to the divine attribute, for she persevered in spite of all obstacles, failures, and discouragements, firmly believing that in time she should do something worthy to be called 'high art'.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same garden, when my little nurse, believing she had put me in a secure place (which I often entreated her to do, that I might enjoy my own thoughts,) and having left my box at home, to avoid the trouble of carrying it, went to another part of the garden with her governess and some ladies of her acquaintance.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Previously, a different team of astronomers had seen periodic variations in the optical light from J0045+41, and, believing it to be a member of M31, classified it as a pair of stars that orbited around each other about once every 80 days.
(Giant Black Hole Pair Photobombs Andromeda Galaxy, NASA)
That you may have less difficulty in believing this boast, of my present perfect indifference, she continued, I will farther tell you, that there was a period in the early part of our acquaintance, when I did like him, when I was very much disposed to be attached to him—nay, was attached—and how it came to cease, is perhaps the wonder.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Having some foundation for believing, by this time, that nature and accident had made me an author, I pursued my vocation with confidence.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Well might his sister, believing as she really did that his opinion of Fanny Price was scarcely beyond her merits, rejoice in her prospects.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I know those who would be shocked by such a representation of Mr Elliot, who would have difficulty in believing it; but I have never been satisfied.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
That I was desirous of believing her indifferent is certain—but I will venture to say that my investigation and decisions are not usually influenced by my hopes or fears.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
