believe

表示“相信、认为某事为真”，也可表示相信某人的话、持有宗教信仰或认为某事大概如此。

💡 记忆钩子

把 believe 想成“在心里把某件事当成可信的”：先是相信一个事实或一个人的话，再扩展为信仰某种存在，或委婉地说“我认为……”。

📝 学习建议

不要把 believe 一律理解成十分确定的“知道”；它通常表示接受为真，但仍可能没有绝对证据。
先掌握 believe + 事实或从句、believe + 人，再学习 believe in + 人或事物；介词 in 会改变结构和侧重点。

📖 中文释义

verb

core 相信某事为真

📖 指把一个事实、说法或判断接受为真的，但不一定拥有绝对证据；这是 believe 最基本的“在心里认为可信”。

💡 常用结构是 believe + 名词，或 believe + 陈述从句。它表示相信而非确定知道，因此不宜在已有明确证据、需要强调确定性时随意替代“知道”。中文里的“相信”有时也表示鼓励或信任，翻译时要根据上下文判断这里是否真的是接受某个事实。

transitive

I believe the report is accurate.

我相信这份报告是准确的。

She believed his story at first.

她起初相信了他的说法。
common 相信某人说的是真话

📖 把某人的话当作可信，而不是单纯表示相信这个人的存在或能力；重点在于相信他没有撒谎。

💡 常用结构是 believe + 人，也可说 believe what someone says。否定形式表示“不相信某人的话”，并不一定表示讨厌或不信任这个人的所有方面。不要误把这种用法和 believe in + 人混为一谈，后者通常更强调对某人的信任、价值或能力。

transitive

I believe you, so you do not need to explain again.

我相信你，所以你不用再解释了。
common 持有宗教信仰

📖 表示心里接受某种宗教真理或更高力量，重点是信仰本身，而不是相信一个具体说法有证据支持。

💡 常见结构是 believe，或在语境明确时说 believe spiritually；谈具体神祇、宗教或教义时通常使用 believe in。单独使用时常需要上下文帮助理解，否则读者可能把它理解成一般的“认为”。

intransitive

He began to believe after a difficult time in his life.

经历人生中的一段艰难时期后，他开始有了信仰。
common 认为；觉得

📖 表示说话者的看法或推断，常带有“我认为大概如此”的语气；它仍然和“把某事当成可信”这个核心概念相连。

💡 常用结构是 I believe + 从句，尤其适合较礼貌或较正式地表达意见。它比 think 更正式或更委婉，但日常对话中两者经常可以互换。不要把这里的 believe 理解成强烈的宗教信仰。

transitive

I believe this is the best choice for everyone.

我认为这是对大家来说最好的选择。
core 相信某人或某事物的存在、价值或真实性

📖 believe in 把“可信”扩展到一个人、理念、力量或事物本身，表示相信它存在，或相信它值得信任、支持；例如可以相信神、鬼、梦想或某人的能力。

💡 固定结构是 believe in + 名词或代词，不能省略 in 后直接接对象。接神、鬼等时通常表示相信其存在，接梦想、自己或某种理念时则常表示相信其价值或可能性。不要把 believe in someone 简单理解成“相信某人说的话”，那通常用 believe someone。

My parents always believed in me.

我的父母一直相信我、支持我。

Do you believe in ghosts?

你相信鬼魂存在吗？

believes present,singular,third-person believing participle,present believed participle,past believed past believe first-person,present,singular believed first-person,past,singular believe present,second-person,singular believest archaic,present,second-person,singular believed past,second-person,singular believedst archaic,past,second-person,singular believeth archaic,present,singular,third-person believed past,singular,third-person believe plural,present believed past,plural believe present,subjunctive believed past,subjunctive believe imperative,present - imperative,past

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 5 组

accept as true; take to be true; ;

同义词集: believe

I believed his report

We didn't believe his stories from the War

She believes in spirits

反义: disbelieve, discredit 上位: accept 下位: buy, infer, swallow, trust, understand

credit with veracity;

同义词集: believe

You cannot believe this man

Should we believe a publication like the National Enquirer?

上位: credit

follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer

同义词集: believe

When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too

judge or regard; look upon; judge; ; ;

同义词集: think believe consider conceive

I think he is very smart

I believe her to be very smart

I think that he is her boyfriend

The racist conceives such people to be inferior

上位: evaluate, judge, pass judgment 下位: be known as, consider, esteem, feel, hold, know as, look on, look upon, reckon, regard, regard as, repute, rethink, see, take to be, think, think of, view

be confident about something

同义词集: believe trust

I believe that he will come back from the war

上位: anticipate, expect

🌳 词源

源自古英语，原有“相信、信任”的意思；believe in 的介词结构还受到拉丁语相关表达的影响。

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laubijaną Proto-West Germanic *laubijan Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan Old English belīefan Middle English bileven English believe From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Old Frisian bilēva (“to permit”), Middle Dutch beloven (“to believe, entrust”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), Saterland Frisian leeuwe (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German Low German glöven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

🔄 变式

- imperat believed 1st_sg believedst archaic believes present believest archaic believeth archaic believing present

🏷 单词标签 & 词根