Origin: Germanic Old English prefix
Belief has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
any cognitive content held as true
"Her unshakable belief that she would win the lottery kept her buying tickets every week despite all the odds."
a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
"his impression of her was favorable"
"what are your feelings about the crisis?"
"it strengthened my belief in his sincerity"
"I had a feeling that she was lying"
Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
"After reviewing all the evidence, she changed her belief that the project would fail."
In plain English: A belief is something you accept as true even though you cannot prove it.
"Her strong belief in honesty made her a trusted friend."
Usage: Use belief to describe a mental acceptance that something is true based on faith or evidence rather than direct proof. It refers to holding an idea in your mind without necessarily having absolute certainty about it.
The word "belief" comes from Old English lēafa, originally meaning "faith." It entered modern English with a slight spelling shift, where the final sound changed to match related verb forms like "believe."