different between profess vs believe
profess
English
Etymology
From Old French professer, and its source, the participle stem of Latin profit?r?, from pro- + fat?r? (“to confess, acknowledge”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /p???f?s/
- Rhymes: -?s
Verb
profess (third-person singular simple present professes, present participle professing, simple past and past participle professed)
- (transitive) To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order. (Chiefly in passive.) [from 14th c.]
- 2000, Butler's Lives of the Saints, p.118:
- This swayed the balance decisively in Mary's favour, and she was professed on 8 September 1578.
- 2000, Butler's Lives of the Saints, p.118:
- (reflexive) To declare oneself (to be something). [from 16th c.]
- 2011, Alex Needham, The Guardian, 9 Dec.:
- Kiefer professes himself amused by the fuss that ensued when he announced that he was buying the Mülheim-Kärlich reactor […].
- 2011, Alex Needham, The Guardian, 9 Dec.:
- (transitive, intransitive) To declare; to assert, affirm. [from 16th c.]
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, First Folio 1623:
- He professes to haue receiued no sinister measure from his Iudge, but most willingly humbles himselfe to the determination of Iustice […].
- 1974, ‘The Kansas Kickbacks’, Time, 11 Feb 1974:
- The Governor immediately professed that he knew nothing about the incident.
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, First Folio 1623:
- (transitive) To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity. [from 16th c.]
- 2010, Hélène Mulholland, The Guardian, 28 Sep 2010:
- Ed Miliband professed ignorance of the comment when he was approached by the BBC later.
- 2010, Hélène Mulholland, The Guardian, 28 Sep 2010:
- (transitive) To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.). [from 16th c.]
- 1983, Alexander Mcleish, The Frontier Peoples of India, Mittal Publications 1984, p.122:
- The remainder of the population, about two-thirds, belongs to the Mongolian race and professes Buddhism.
- 1983, Alexander Mcleish, The Frontier Peoples of India, Mittal Publications 1984, p.122:
- (transitive) To work as a professor of; to teach. [from 16th c.]
- (transitive, now rare) To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter). [from 16th c.]
Translations
Further reading
- profess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- profess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
profess From the web:
- what profession makes the most money
- what profession should i choose
- what professional sport pays the most
- what profession makes vaccines
- what profession goes with tailoring
- what profession goes with enchanting
- what profession makes the most millionaires
- what professions use calculus
believe
English
Alternative forms
- beleeve (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English bel?efan (“to believe”), a later variant to Proto-Germanic *galaubijan? (“to have faith, believe”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”). Compare Old English ?el?efan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), Old English ?el?afa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English l?of ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable"; > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????? (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /b??li?v/
- (General American) IPA(key): /b??liv/, /bi-/, /b?-/
- Rhymes: -i?v
- Hyphenation: be?lieve
Verb
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)
- (transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth.
- (intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
- (transitive) To opine, think, reckon
- Do you think this is good?
- Hmm, I believe it's okay.
- Do you think this is good?
Antonyms
- disbelieve
Usage notes
- 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
Derived terms
Related terms
- belief
- disbelief
Translations
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
believe
- (archaic) singular present subjunctive of believen
Anagrams
- beviele
believe From the web:
- what believe means
- what believe in god
- what beliefs are shared by most christians
- what belief was behind manifest destiny
- what belief united the progressive movement
- what belief contributed to the boxer rebellion
- what belief does sancho express
- what belief was held by most progressives
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