Main Difference – Belief vs Believe
Belief and believe are two words that refer to the faith or conviction in other people, things or ideas. The main difference between belief and believe is that Belief is a noun that refers to the act of accepting something as true while believe is a verb that refers to accepting something as truth. As apparent from this simple explanation, the meaning of these two words is similar; it is only the grammatical form and the usage of these two terms that differ. In this article, we are going to elaborate this difference between Belief and Believe.
Belief – Meaning and Usage
Belief is a noun. In simple terms, ‘belief’ refers to the act of accepting something as truth. According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘belief’ especially refers to the act of accepting something without proof and evidence. We use the noun ‘belief’ when we are talking about faith, confidence or trust in something. Belief is also used to refer to a strong opinion or conviction. We always use the preposition ‘in’ in relation to ‘belief.’
“They always mocked his belief in extraterrestrial”
“The belief in God helped him to bear the pain silently.”
“They were prepared to fight for their beliefs.”
“He was the first to reject the belief that earth was flat.”
“Self-confidence is, having belief in yourself.”
Her belief in god was unwavering.
Believe – Meaning and Usage
Believe is a stative verb. A stative verb is a verb that refers to a state rather than an action. Therefore believe can be defined as the state of accepting something as truth. It can also refer to having religious faith. Believe is sometimes used as a synonym for ‘think.’ The preposition ‘in’ often follows the verb ‘believe’ Look at the examples below to note these usages.
“They believe that smoking helps to reduce weight.” = (They strongly think that smoking helps to reduce weight.)
“He did not believe in religion.”
“No one was ready to believe that the convict was innocent.”
“Christians believe that there is only one true God, but Hindus believe in many Gods.”
“I believe we have already talked about this.”
“Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation, but they believe in rebirth.”
They believe that lighting lamps will drive away the darkness and evil.
Difference Between Belief and Belive
The main difference between belief and believe is that belief is a noun while believe is a verb. Now look at the examples below, to understand how these two words differ in usage. Note that both sentences (1 & 2) have the same meaning.
- I believe you
- I have belief in you
- I stopped believing in him that day
- My belief in him died that day.
- They were prepared to fight for their beliefs.
- They were prepared to fight for what they believe in.
Through these examples it is clear that the difference between ‘belief’ and ‘believe’ exists in their grammatical form and usage only.
