BELIEVES Synonyms: 48 Similar and Opposite Words

believes

verb

present tense third-person singular of believe

as in accepts

to regard as right or true only the most naive car buyer would have believed the salesman's claim that the dealership was actually losing money on the deal

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in thinks

to have as an opinion despite the horrors she witnessed and endured, Anne Frank steadfastly believed that "people are really good at heart"

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of believes Roach believes the perfect lead hook comes down to the timing. — Chris McKenna, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026 With a growing portion of the population born after the attacks, Spade believes preserving the individual stories has become more urgent. — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026 When the first tower collapsed, Deputy Chief Dunn believes that only a handful of firefighters actually had reached the fire floor, around the eightieth story of the building. — Peter Wilkinson, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Anthropic has accused Chinese companies such as Moonshot AI, DeepSeek, and MiniMax of the practice, while OpenAI believes DeepSeek's V3 and R1 model architectures were distilled from its own GPT-4 and GPT-4o models. — Kate Rooney,isabel O'Brien, CNBC, 11 Sep. 2026 Groups put on the list would have seven days of being noticed to object in writing and provide documentation the organization believes would counsel against the designation. — Jim Turner, Sun Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026 Late on Tuesday night, Parker Police Department believes speed is what led to a deadly crash on Mainstreet. — Olivia Young, CBS News, 10 Sep. 2026 Dondo Iorlamen, the international director of CAPRO, believes Africa is well-positioned to send missionaries because Christianity is growing stronger there. — Nimi Princewill, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026 That gives it a foot in the door at far more companies than rivals with which buyers have fewer connections, Faber believes. — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for believes

Verb

At first, the public accepts them at their own level of self-esteem, showering them with wealth.

— Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
While city leaders have broad latitude over the management of their meetings and can eject attendees for disruptions, courts typically reject when the government accepts some viewpoints but rejects others.

— Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of accepts

Verb

And Pochettino, who was sacked by Tottenham in November 2019 without winning anything, thinks that his work should be viewed differently in that context.

— Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026
Ancient critics could never quite agree on the direction of causality between Euripides’ formal excesses and the political decay of Athens around him — and Lichtenberg thinks that same ambiguity now surrounds AI.

— Aris Alexander, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of thinks

Verb

On Friday, Hassett said that the administration understands the pressure that rising energy prices puts on consumers.

— Steve Kopack, NBC news, 4 Sep. 2026
Senior kicker Nate McCashland understands what the Goggins family is going through, with his younger brother having leukemia at a young age, and talked about how inspiring Heston is.

— Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of understands

Verb

See the Republican Party, which considers Islamophobia as one of its main characteristics.

— Ayman M. Mohyeldin, Vanity Fair, 11 Sep. 2026
The grievances extend to what Algeria cites as Emirati support for Khalifa Haftar in Libya (where Algeria backs the government in Tripoli) and Emirati involvement in the Sahel, both regions Algiers considers its own sphere.

— Tareq Alotaiba, semafor.com, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of considers

Verb

Taylor takes a 13-minute drive down Columbia Parkway to Paycor Stadium in the early hours every morning.

— Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Carried in on a throne held up by shirtless men, Bravo’s prodigal daughter takes the mic to speak to the crowd and reminisce on her ups and downs as an Atlanta Housewife.

— Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of takes

Verb

Through the eyes of a new generation searching for its place, Burgundy opens the doors to a world rarely seen from within, and then imagines its way further inside.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2026
The film imagines a colorful, family-friendly realm concealed just under the surface of video games themselves, populated by a covert guild of guardians tasked with keeping each title operating and preserving every player’s journey.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of imagines

Verb

And while the Lanterns are sort of wrong about the latter (more on that to follow), the jump to the former conclusion feels a tad out of the blue.

— Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 7 Sep. 2026
So pegging the Saints’ second-year quarterback as one of the top three passers in the NFC feels pretty bold.

— Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of feels

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believers

believes

believing

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“Believes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/believes. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of believes

verb

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