Key: "S:" = Show Synset (semantic) relations, "W:" = Show Word (lexical) relations
Display options for sense: (frequency) (gloss) "an example sentence"
Verb
(118)S: (v) believe (accept as true; take to be true) "I believed his report"; "We didn't believe his stories from the War"; "She believes in spirits"
(72)S: (v) think, believe, consider, conceive (judge or regard; look upon; judge) "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"
(37)S: (v) believe, trust (be confident about something) "I believe that he will come back from the war"
(10)S: (v) believe (follow a credo; have a faith; be a believer) "When you hear his sermons, you will be able to believe, too"
S: (n) religion, faith, religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny) "he lost his faith but not his morality"
S: (n) apophatism (the religious belief that God cannot be known but is completely `other' and must be described in negative terms (in terms of what God is not))
S: (n) cataphatism (the religious belief that God has given enough clues to be known to humans positively and affirmatively (e.g., God created Adam `in his own image'))
S: (n) doctrine of analogy, analogy (the religious belief that between creature and creator no similarity can be found so great but that the dissimilarity is always greater; any analogy between God and humans will always be inadequate)
S: (n) cult, cultus, religious cult (a system of religious beliefs and rituals) "devoted to the cultus of the Blessed Virgin"
S: (n) cargo cult (a religious cult that anticipates a time of joy, serenity, and justice when salvation comes)
S: (n) macumba (a Brazilian religious cult of African origin; combines voodoo elements with singing and chanting and dancing)
S: (n) obeah, obi (a religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery; practiced in parts of the West Indies and tropical Americas)
S: (n) Rastafarianism (a religious cult based on a belief that Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie) is the Messiah and that Africa (especially Ethiopia) is the Promised Land)
S: (n) voodoo, vodoun, voodooism, hoodooism (a religious cult practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries (especially Haiti); involves witchcraft and animistic deities)
S: (n) Chabad, Chabad Hasidism (a form of Hasidism practiced by Lithuanian and Russian Jews under communist rule; the beliefs and practices of the Lubavitch movement)
S: (n) Islam, Islamism, Mohammedanism, Muhammadanism, Muslimism (the monotheistic religious system of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran) "Islam is a complete way of life, not a Sunday religion"; "the term Muhammadanism is offensive to Muslims who believe that Allah, not Muhammad, founded their religion"
S: (n) Mahdism (belief in the appearance of the Mahdi; devotion to a Mahdi)
S: (n) Salafism, Salafi movement (a militant group of extremist Sunnis who believe themselves the only correct interpreters of the Koran and consider moderate Muslims to be infidels; seek to convert all Muslims and to insure that its own fundamentalist version of Islam will dominate the world)
S: (n) Shiism (the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphs)
S: (n) Ismailism (the branch of Shiism noted for its esoteric philosophy)
S: (n) Wahhabism, Wahabism (a conservative and intolerant form of Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia) "Osama bin Laden and his followers practice Wahhabism"
S: (n) tritheism ((Christianity) the heretical belief that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are three separate gods)
S: (n) pantheism (the doctrine or belief that God is the universe and its phenomena (taken or conceived of as a whole) or the doctrine that regards the universe as a manifestation of God)
S: (n) panenthesism (the belief that God is in part of the universe and its phenomena and also transcends the universe and intervenes in its operations)
S: (n) pandeism (the belief that God created the universe and its phenomena by becoming the universe, thereafter the sole manifestation of God)
S: (n) pantheism ((rare) worship that admits or tolerates all gods)
S: (n) druidism (the system of religion and philosophy taught by the Druids and their rites and ceremonies)
S: (n) Christianity, Christian religion (a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior)
S: (n) Eastern Catholicism (the beliefs and practices of any of the eastern Catholic Churches based in Constantinople or Antioch or Alexandria or Moscow or Jerusalem)
S: (n) Albigensianism, Catharism (a Christian movement considered to be a medieval descendant of Manichaeism in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries; characterized by dualism (asserted the coexistence of two mutually opposed principles, one good and one evil); was exterminated for heresy during the Inquisition)
S: (n) Donatism (a schismatic Christian religion in northern Africa from the 4th to the 7th century; held that only those who led a blameless life belonged in the church or could administer the sacraments)
S: (n) Protestantism (the theological system of any of the churches of western Christendom that separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation)
S: (n) Arminianism (17th century theology (named after its founder Jacobus Arminius) that opposes the absolute predestinarianism of John Calvin and holds that human free will is compatible with God's sovereignty)
S: (n) Calvinism (the theological system of John Calvin and his followers emphasizing omnipotence of God and salvation by grace alone)
S: (n) Christian Science (religious system based on teachings of Mary Baker Eddy emphasizing spiritual healing)
S: (n) Lutheranism (teachings of Martin Luther emphasizing the cardinal doctrine of justification by faith alone)
S: (n) Congregationalism (system of beliefs and church government of a Protestant denomination in which each member church is self-governing)
S: (n) Mennonitism (system of beliefs and practices including belief in scriptural authority; plain dress; adult baptism; foot washing; restriction of marriage to members of the group)
S: (n) evangelicalism (stresses the importance of personal conversion and faith as the means of salvation)
S: (n) Anabaptism (a Protestant movement in the 16th century that believed in the primacy of the Bible, baptised only believers, not infants, and believed in complete separation of church and state)
S: (n) Mormonism (the doctrines and practices of the Mormon Church based on the Book of Mormon)
S: (n) pentecostalism (the principles and practices of Pentecostal religious groups; characterized by religious excitement and talking in tongues)
S: (n) Presbyterianism (the doctrines and practices of the Presbyterian Church: based in Calvinism)
S: (n) Puritanism (the beliefs and practices characteristic of Puritans (most of whom were Calvinists who wished to purify the Church of England of its Catholic aspects))
S: (n) Tractarianism, Puseyism (principles of the founders of the Oxford movement as expounded in pamphlets called `Tracts for the Times')
S: (n) Unitarianism (a non-doctrinal religion that stresses individual freedom of belief and rejects the Trinity)
S: (n) Hinduism, Hindooism (a body of religious and philosophical beliefs and cultural practices native to India and based on a caste system; it is characterized by a belief in reincarnation, by a belief in a supreme being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and by a desire for liberation from earthly evils)
S: (n) Darsana ((from the Sanskrit word for `to see') one of six orthodox philosophical systems or viewpoints on the nature of reality and the release from bondage to karma)
S: (n) Mimamsa ((from the Sanskrit word for `reflection' or `interpretation') one of six orthodox philosophical systems or viewpoints on ritual traditions rooted in the Vedas and the Brahmanas as opposed to Vedanta which relies mostly on the Upanishads)
S: (n) Vedanta ((from the Sanskrit for `end of the Veda') one of six orthodox philosophical systems or viewpoints rooted in the Upanishads as opposed to Mimamsa which relies on the Vedas and Brahmanas)
S: (n) Vedism (the form of Hinduism that revolves primarily around the mythic version and ritual ideologies in the Vedas)
S: (n) Brahmanism, Brahminism (the religious beliefs of ancient India as prescribed in the sacred Vedas and Brahmanas and Upanishads)
S: (n) Jainism (religion founded in the 6th century BC as a revolt against Hinduism; emphasizes asceticism and immortality and transmigration of the soul; denies existence of a perfect or supreme being)
S: (n) Sikhism (the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam)
S: (n) Buddhism (the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth)
S: (n) Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism (one of two great schools of Buddhist doctrine emphasizing a common search for universal salvation especially through faith alone; the dominant religion of China and Tibet and Japan)
S: (n) Yogacara (one of the main traditions of Mahayana Buddhism; holds that the mind is real but that objects are just ideas or states of consciousness)
S: (n) Theravada, Theravada Buddhism (one of two great schools of Buddhist doctrine emphasizing personal salvation through your own efforts; a conservative form of Buddhism that adheres to Pali scriptures and the non-theistic ideal of self purification to nirvana; the dominant religion of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand and Laos and Cambodia)
S: (n) Hinayana, Hinayana Buddhism (an offensive name for the early conservative Theravada Buddhism; it died out in India but survived in Sri Lanka and was taken from there to other regions of southwestern Asia)
S: (n) Lamaism, Tibetan Buddhism (a Buddhist doctrine that includes elements from India that are not Buddhist and elements of preexisting shamanism)
S: (n) Zen, Zen Buddhism (a Buddhist doctrine that enlightenment can be attained through direct intuitive insight)
S: (n) Shingon (a form of Buddhism emphasizing mystical symbolism of mantras and mudras and the Buddha's ideal which is inexpressible)
S: (n) Tantra, Tantrism (doctrine of enlightenment as the realization of the oneness of one's self and the visible world; combines elements of Hinduism and paganism including magical and mystical elements like mantras and mudras and erotic rites; especially influential in Tibet)
S: (n) Taoism, Hsuan Chiao (popular Chinese philosophical system based in teachings of Lao-tzu but characterized by a pantheism of many gods and the practices of alchemy and divination and magic)
S: (n) Shinto, Shintoism (the ancient indigenous religion of Japan lacking formal dogma; characterized by a veneration of nature spirits and of ancestors)
S: (n) Manichaeism, Manichaeanism (a religion founded by Manes in the third century; a synthesis of Zoroastrian dualism between light and dark and Babylonian folklore and Buddhist ethics and superficial elements of Christianity; spread widely in the Roman Empire but had largely died out by 1000)
S: (n) Mithraism, Mithraicism (ancient Persian religion; popular among Romans during first three centuries a.d.)
S: (n) Zoroastrianism, Mazdaism (system of religion founded in Persia in the 6th century BC by Zoroaster; set forth in the Zend-Avesta; based on concept of struggle between light (good) and dark (evil))
S: (n) Bahaism (a religion founded in Iran in 1863; emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind; incorporates Christian and Islamic tenets; many adherents live in the United States) "Bahaism has no public rituals or sacraments and praying is done in private"
S: (n) shamanism, Asian shamanism (an animistic religion of northern Asia having the belief that the mediation between the visible and the spirit worlds is effected by shamans)
S: (n) shamanism (any animistic religion similar to Asian shamanism (especially as practiced by certain Native American tribes))
S: (n) Wicca (the polytheistic nature religion of modern witchcraft whose central deity is a mother goddess; claims origins in pre-Christian pagan religions of western Europe)