Doubt

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Doubt, n. & v.
--n.
1 a feeling of uncertainty; an undecided state of mind (be in no doubt about; have no doubt that).
2 (often foll. by of, about) an inclination to disbelieve (have one's doubts about).
3 an uncertain state of things.
4 a lack of full proof or clear indication (benefit of the doubt).
--v.
1 tr. (often foll. by whether, if, that + clause; also foll. (after neg. or interrog.) by but, but that) feel uncertain or undecided about (I doubt that you are right; I do not doubt but that you are wrong).
2 tr. hesitate to believe or trust.
3 intr. (often foll. by of) feel uncertain or undecided; have doubts (never doubted of success).
4 tr. call in question.
5 tr. Brit. archaic or dial. rather think that; suspect or fear that (I doubt we are late).

Idiom

beyond doubt certainly. doubting Thomas an incredulous or sceptical person (after John 20:24-29). in doubt uncertain; open to question. no doubt certainly; probably; admittedly. without doubt (or a doubt) certainly.

Derivative

doubtable adj. doubter n. doubtingly adv.

Etymology

ME doute f. OF doute (n.), douter (v.) f. L dubitare hesitate; mod. spelling after L

THESAURUS

Doubt

Humism, Pyrrhonism, agnosticism, agonize over, all-overs, anxiety, apprehension, apprehensiveness, awake a doubt, be at sea, be diffident, be doubtful, be dubious, be possessive, be skeptical, be uncertain, beat about, call in question, challenge, concern, confutability, contest, contestability, controvertibility, deniability, diffidence, disbelief, disbelieve, discredit, disputability, dispute, disquiet, distrust, distrustfulness, doubtful, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, dubitancy, fear, feel unsure, flounder, fluctuate, foreboding, greet with skepticism, grope, half believe, half-belief, harbor suspicions, have reservations, hesitate, hesitation, in doubt, incertitude, incredulity, irresolution, leeriness, misdoubt, misgive, misgiving, mistrust, mistrustfulness, puzzle over, qualm, qualmishness, query, question, questionableness, raise a question, refutability, reservations, scepticism, scoff, scoffing, scruple, scrupulousness, self-doubt, shadow of doubt, skepticalness, skepticism, smell a rat, suspect, suspicion, suspiciousness, thrash about, throw doubt upon, total skepticism, treat with reserve, unbelief, uncertainty, vacillate, wariness, waver, wonder, wonder whether, worry

ROGET THESAURUS

Doubt

Irreligion

N irreligion, indevotion, godlessness, ungodliness, laxity, quietism, skepticism, doubt, unbelief, disbelief, incredulity, incredulousness, want of faith, want of belief, pyrrhonism, bout, agnosticism, atheism, deism, hylotheism, materialism, positivism, nihilism, infidelity, freethinking, antichristianity, rationalism, neology, atheist, skeptic, unbeliever, deist, infidel, pyrrhonist, giaour, heathen, alien, gentile, Nazarene, espri fort, freethinker, latitudinarian, rationalist, materialist, positivist, nihilist, agnostic, somatist, theophobist, irreligious, indevout, undevout, devoutless, godless, graceless, ungodly, unholy, unsanctified, unhallowed, atheistic, without God, skeptical, freethinking, unbelieving, unconverted, incredulous, faithless, lacking faith, deistical, unchristian, antichristian, worldly, mundane, earthly, carnal, worldly minded, irreligiously.

VB be irreligious, disbelieve, lack faith, doubt, question, dechristianize.

Darkness

VB be dark, darken, obscure, shade, dim, tone down, lower, overcast, overshadow, eclipse, obfuscate, offuscate, obumbrate, adumbrate, cast into the shade becloud, bedim, bedarken, cast a shade, throw a shade, spread a shade, cast a shadow, cast a gloom, throw a shadow, spread a shadow, cast gloom, throw gloom, spread gloom, extinguish, put out, blow out, snuff out, doubt, turn out the lights, douse the lights, dim the lights, turn off the lights, switch off the lights.

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.

VB be uncertain, wonder whether, lose the clue, lose the clew, scent, miss one's way, not know what to make of, not know which way to turn, not know whether one stands on one s head or one's, float in a sea of doubt, hesitate, flounder, lose oneself, lose one's head, muddle one's brains, render uncertain, put out, pose, puzzle, perplex, embarrass, confuse, confound, bewilder, bother, molder, addle the wits, throw off the scent, ambiguas in vulgus spargere voces, keep in suspense, doubt, hang in the balance, tremble in the balance, depend.

Doubt

N unbelief doubt, unbelief, disbelief, misbelief, discredit, miscreance, infidelity, dissent, change of opinion, retraction, doubt, skepticism, scepticism, misgiving, demure, distrust, mistrust, cynicism, misdoubt, suspicion, jealousy, scruple, qualm, onus probandi, incredibility, incredibleness, incredulity, doubter, skeptic, cynic, unbeliever, unbelieving, skeptical, sceptical, incredulous as to, skeptical as to, distrustful as to, shy as to, suspicious of, doubting, doubtful, disputable, unworthy of, undeserving of belief, questionable, suspect, suspicious, open to suspicion, open to doubt, staggering, hard to believe, incredible, unbelievable, not to be believed, inconceivable, impossible, fallible, undemonstrable, controvertible, cum grano salis, with a grain of salt, with grains of allowance, fronti nulla fides, nimium ne crede colori, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes, I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts, beware of Greeks bearing gifts, credat Judaeus Apella, let those believe who may, ad tristem partem stenua est suspicio.

VB disbelieve, discredit, not believe, misbelieve, refuse to admit, refuse to believe, doubt, be doubtful, doubt the truth of, be skeptical as to, diffide, distrust, mistrust, suspect, smoke, scent, smell a rat, have doubts, harbor doubts, entertain doubts, suspicions, have one's doubts, demure, stick at, pause, hesitate, scruple, stop to consider, waver, hang in suspense, hang in doubt, throw doubt upon, raise a question, bring in, call in question, question, challenge, dispute, deny, cavil, cause a doubt, raise a doubt, start a doubt, suggest a doubt, awake a doubt, make suspicion, ergotize, startle, stagger, shake one's faith, shake one's belief, stagger one's faith, stagger one's belief.