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BELIEVE IN
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I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Have a firm conviction as to the goodness of something
Example:
John believes in oat bran
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Hypernyms (to "believe in" is one way to...):
believe (accept as true; take to be true)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s VERB-ing
Context examples:
No effort of faith is necessary to believe in such a god; no effort of will can possibly induce disbelief in such a god.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
"I can but die," I said, "and I believe in God. Let me try to wait His will in silence."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Neither clock nor weather-glass is ever right; but we believe in both, devoutly.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
At ten o’clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to keep a team fit.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But I don’t believe in bankers.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He looked, as he spoke, to the seat which Mrs Clay had been lately occupying: a sufficient explanation of what he particularly meant; and though Anne could not believe in their having the same sort of pride, she was pleased with him for not liking Mrs Clay; and her conscience admitted that his wishing to promote her father's getting great acquaintance was more than excusable in the view of defeating her.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
“Is there no end then to the wickedness of humankind? He so humble, so aged, so loth to take our money—and yet a villain and a cheat. Whom can we trust or believe in?”
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And besides that, my cousin Richard said himself, that when it came to the point he was afraid Mr. Ferrars would be off; and when Edward did not come near us for three days, I could not tell what to think myself; and I believe in my heart Lucy gave it up all for lost; for we came away from your brother's Wednesday, and we saw nothing of him not all Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and did not know what was become of him.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
It was a sight which I shall never forget until my dying day—so weird, so impossible, that I do not know how I am to make you realize it, or how in a few years I shall bring myself to believe in it if I live to sit once more on a lounge in the Savage Club and look out on the drab solidity of the Embankment.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It’s just so much slush and sentiment, and you must see it yourself, at least for one who does not believe in eternal life.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
