UNBELIEF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unbelief mean? 

• UNBELIEF (noun)
  The noun UNBELIEF has 1 sense:

1. a rejection of belief

  Familiarity information: UNBELIEF used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNBELIEF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rejection of belief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

disbelief; unbelief

Hypernyms ("unbelief" 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 "unbelief"):

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

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

Antonym:

belief (any cognitive content held as true)

 Context examples 

Exclamations and cries of doubt were being made, and Ugh-Gluk expressed open unbelief.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you, here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Were we among the tamer scenes of nature I might fear to encounter your unbelief, perhaps your ridicule; but many things will appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions which would provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever-varied powers of nature; nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But the women spoke of the fresh-killed meat he had brought on his back, and this was an overwhelming argument against their unbelief.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his unbelief. But we were all looking at Gatsby.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)