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# believe

«believe» in Mova's school dictionary: **true** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (believe, believes, believed, believing); noun belief

### meaning for a pupil

1) To believe something means to think it is true. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#m1)

2) To believe someone means to trust that they are telling the truth. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#m2)

3) To believe in something means to feel sure it exists or is good, such as believing in yourself. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#m3)

4) «I believe…» can also mean «I think, but I am not completely sure». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science we should believe things because of evidence: we test and check, not just trust what someone says. In stories, whether a character believes another tells us about trust, tricks and lies. In safety lessons: don't believe a stranger who says your parent sent them unless they know the family password. Phrases: believe in, can't believe, believe it or not, make-believe.

### examples

- I believe that the Earth goes around the Sun, because scientists have measured it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x1)
- Do you believe me? I really did see a rainbow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x2)
- I can't believe how fast you ran! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x3)
- She believes in herself, so she tried again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x4)
- Believe it or not, a snail can sleep for a very long time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x5)
- Long ago many people believed the Earth was flat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x6)
- Don't believe everything you read online; check it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x7)
- The little girl played make-believe with her dolls. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x8)
- Do not believe everything you hear. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/#x9)

### note

Spelling: «i before e» — believe, belief. The noun is «belief», plural «beliefs». «Believe» is not usually used in the -ing form for opinions («I believe», not «I am believing»). Believing something does not make it true; evidence does.

### In the corpora

- [Different families believe different things about what happens after death, and nobody knows for certain.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/24-when-someone-dies/7/)
- [Death hoaxes about famous people spread fast because they are shocking; check a proper news site before believing or sharing one.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/46-tabloids-sources-close-to-and-the-photo/10/)
- [Corrections are usually much smaller than the false stories they correct, so be slow to believe a shocking first story.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/47-viral-rumours-cancellations-fakes-and-apologies/8/)
- [Before believing a shocking story, look it up on a proper news site, and check its date.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/50-rumours-about-classmates-and-secrets/9/)
- [Shocking pictures should be confirmed by trusted news before you believe or share them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/22-news-jobs-art-safety/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «believe» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/believe/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.