Believed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of accepting something as true or real based on faith or trust without needing concrete evidence
2. A mental state where one holds an idea to be true due to trust, experience, or faith despite the absence of proof
3. The acceptance of a concept as true or valid relying on conviction or trust rather than empirical evidence

Etymology: "Believed" is the simple past and past participle of "believe," which entered Middle English as "beleven" from Old English "belīefan." The verb is built from "be-" and "leave," in the older sense of giving permission, so its earliest sense was close to "to permit." Its sense of holding something as true grew from trust. Middle Dutch "beloven" meant both "to believe" and "to entrust," showing how closely the two ideas were linked in related languages.

Synonyms: thought, considered, accepted, assumed, held

Antonyms: doubted, questioned, disbelieved, dismissed, ignored