doubt /ˈdaʊt/
懷疑,疑問(vt.)懷疑(vi.)懷疑
Doubt v. i. [imp. & p. p. Doubted; p. pr. & vb. n. Doubting.]
1. To waver in opinion or judgment; to be in uncertainty as to belief respecting anything; to hesitate in belief; to be undecided as to the truth of the negative or the affirmative proposition; to b e undetermined.
Even in matters divine, concerning some things, we may lawfully doubt, and suspend our judgment. --Hooker.
To try your love and make you doubt of mine. --Dryden.
2. To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive. [Obs.]
Syn: -- To waver; vacillate; fluctuate; hesitate; demur; scruple; question.
Doubt, v. t.
1. To question or hold questionable; to withhold assent to; to hesitate to believe, or to be inclined not to believe; to withhold confidence from; to distrust; as, I have heard the story, but I doubt the truth of it.
To admire superior sense, and doubt their own! --Pope.
I doubt not that however changed, you keep
So much of what is graceful. --Tennyson.
To doubt not but.
I do not doubt but I have been to blame. --Dryden.
We doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed on our way. --Shak.
Note: That is, we have no doubt to prevent us from believing, etc. (or notwithstanding all that may be said to the contrary) -- but having a preventive sense, after verbs of “doubting” and “denying” that convey a notion of hindrance. --E. A. Abbott.
2. To suspect; to fear; to be apprehensive of. [Obs.]
Edmond [was a] good man and doubted God. --R. of Gloucester.
I doubt some foul play. --Shak.
That I of doubted danger had no fear. --Spenser.
3. To fill with fear; to affright. [Obs.]
The virtues of the valiant Caratach
More doubt me than all Britain. --Beau. & Fl.
Doubt, n.
1. A fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation.
Doubt is the beginning and the end of our efforts to know. --Sir W. Hamilton.
Doubt, in order to be operative in requiring an acquittal, is not the want of perfect certainty (which can never exist in any question of fact) but a defect of proof preventing a reasonable assurance of quilt. --Wharton.
2. Uncertainty of condition.
Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee. --Deut. xxviii. 66.
3. Suspicion; fear; apprehension; dread. [Obs.]
I stand in doubt of you. --Gal. iv. 20.
Nor slack her threatful hand for danger's doubt. --Spenser.
4. Difficulty expressed or urged for solution; point unsettled; objection.
To every doubt your answer is the same. --Blackmore.
No doubt, undoubtedly; without doubt.
Out of doubt, beyond doubt. [Obs.]
Syn: -- Uncertainty; hesitation; suspense; indecision; irresolution; distrust; suspicion; scruple; perplexity; ambiguity; skepticism.
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doubt
n 1: the state of being unsure of something [syn: uncertainty,
incertitude, dubiety, doubtfulness, dubiousness]
[ant: certainty]
2: uncertainty about the truth or factuality of existence of
something; "the dubiousness of his claim"; "there is no
question about the validity of the enterprise" [syn: dubiousness,
doubtfulness, question]
v 1: consider unlikely or have doubts about; "I doubt that she
will accept his proposal of marriage"
2: lack confidence in or have doubts about; "I doubt these
reports"; "I suspect her true motives"; "she distrusts her
stepmother"