belief

n. [ OE. bileafe, bileve; cf. AS. geleáfa. See Believe. ] 1. Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. [ 1913 Webster ]

Belief admits of all degrees, from the slightest suspicion to the fullest assurance. Reid. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man can attain [ to ] belief by the bare contemplation of heaven and earth. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The thing believed; the object of belief. [ 1913 Webster ]

Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any class of views; doctrine; creed. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the heat of persecution to which Christian belief was subject upon its first promulgation. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Credence; trust; reliance; assurance; opinion. [ 1913 Webster ]