different between surmise vs believe

English

Etymology

From Old French surmis, past participle of surmetre, surmettre (“to accuse”), from sur- (“upon”) + metre (“to put”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /s???ma?z/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /s??ma?z/
• Hyphenation: sur?mise

Noun

surmise (countable and uncountable, plural surmises)

1. Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.
2. Reflection; thought; posit.

Translations

Verb

surmise (third-person singular simple present surmises, present participle surmising, simple past and past participle surmised)

1. To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises.

Translations

Further reading

• surmise in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• surmise in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• misuser

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy?.miz/
• Homophones: surmisent, surmises

Verb

surmise

1. first-person singular present indicative of surmiser
2. third-person singular present indicative of surmiser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
5. second-person singular imperative of surmiser

Anagrams

• mûrisse

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)

1. (transitive) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing)
2. (transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth.

3. (intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
4. (transitive) To opine, think, reckon

   Do you think this is good?

   Hmm, I believe it's okay.

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

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of believen

Anagrams

• beviele