Search the Dictionary

ct of disbelieving;; a state of the mind in which one is fully persuaded that an opinion, assertion, or doctrine is not true; refusal of assent, credit, or credence; denial of belief. Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing. Tillotson. No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own l…

Not to believe; to refuse belief or credence to; to hold not to be true or actual. Assertions for which there is abundant positive evidence are often disbelieved, on account of what is called their improbability or impossibility. J. S. Mill.

wn; to disavow; to reject. He calls the gods to witness their offense; Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence. Dryden. He disclaims the authority of Jesus. Farmer.

To oppose by argument or assertion; to attempt to overthrow; to controvert; to express dissent or opposition to; to call in question; to deny the truth or validity of; as, to dispute assertions or arguments. To seize goods under the disputed authority of writs of assistance. Bancroft.

A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum.

Asserting a thing positively and authoritatively; positive; magisterial; hence, arrogantly authoritative; overbearing. Critics write in a positive, dogmatic way. Spectator. [They] are as assertive and dogmatical as if they were omniscient. Glanvill. Dogmatic theology. Same as Dogmatics.

To assert positively; to teach magisterially or with bold and undue confidence; to advance with arrogance. The pride of dogmatizing schools. Blackmore.

One who dogmatizes; a bold asserter; a magisterial teacher. Hammond.

animal; hence, not in action or exercise; quiescent; at rest; in abeyance; not disclosed, asserted, or insisted on; as, dormant passions; dormant claims or titles. It is by lying dormant a long time, or being . . . very rarely exercised, that arbitrary power steals upon a people. Burke.

r 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…

To set up as an assertion or consequence from premises, or the like. "To erect conclusions." Sir T. Browne. "Malebranche erects this proposition." Locke.

Furnishing evidence; asserting; proving; evidential. When a fact is supposed, although incorrectly, to be evidentiary of, a mark of, some other fact. J. S. Mill.

faced men down." Prior. -- To face (a thing) out, to persist boldly or impudently in an assertion or in a line of conduct. "That thinks with oaths to face the matter out." Shak

The assertion or statement of a thing done or existing; sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds with false facts. I do not grant the fact. De Foe. This reasoning is founded upon a fact…

Want of truth or accuracy; an untrue assertion or representation; error; misrepresentation; falsity. Though it be a lie in the clock, it is but a falsehood in the hand of the dial when pointing at a wrong hour, if rightly following the direction of the wheel which moveth it. Fuller.

That which is evidently false; an assertion or statement the falsity of which is plainly apparent; -- opposed to truism.

That which is false; falsehood; a lie; a false assertion. Men often swallow falsities for truths. Sir T. Brown.

The power asserted of moral beings of willing or choosing without the restraints of physical or absolute necessity.

posture intended to express an idea or a passion, or to enforce or emphasize an argument, assertion, or opinion. Humble and reverent gestures. Hooker. Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love. Milton.

." Addison. Giving in, a falling inwards; a collapse. -- Giving out, anything uttered or asserted; an outgiving. His givings out were of an infinite distance From his true meant design. Shak.