DISBELIEF

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does disbelief mean? 

• DISBELIEF (noun)
  The noun DISBELIEF has 2 senses:

1. doubt about the truth of something

2. a rejection of belief

  Familiarity information: DISBELIEF used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISBELIEF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Doubt about the truth of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

disbelief; incredulity; mental rejection; skepticism

Hypernyms ("disbelief" is a kind of...):

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A rejection of belief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

disbelief; unbelief

Hypernyms ("disbelief" is a kind of...):

cognitive content; content; mental object (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "disbelief"):

agnosticism; scepticism; skepticism (the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge)

atheism (a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods)

 Context examples 

Astonishment, that would have been as painful as it was strong, had not an immediate disbelief of the assertion attended it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Whilst that lasts, there can be no disbelief.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

No effort of faith is necessary to believe in such a god; no effort of will can possibly induce disbelief in such a god.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The magistrate appeared at first perfectly incredulous, but as I continued he became more attentive and interested; I saw him sometimes shudder with horror; at others a lively surprise, unmingled with disbelief, was painted on his countenance.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man incapable of holding any public station; for, since kings avow themselves to be the deputies of Providence, the Lilliputians think nothing can be more absurd than for a prince to employ such men as disown the authority under which he acts.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)