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disbelief
[ dis-bi-leef ]
noun
- the inability or refusal to believe or to accept something as true.
We stared at the Taj Mahal in disbelief.
disbelief
/ ˌɪɪˈː /
noun
- refusal or reluctance to believe
Word History and Origins
Origin of disbelief1
Idioms and Phrases
- suspension of disbelief, the implicit convention requiring a reader, spectator, etc., to set aside their usual criteria for judging the reality or credibility of an experience in order to be be fully immersed in a fictional or fantastic reality: According to Coleridge, enlightened readers could still enjoy literature about the supernatural because of the phenomenon he named “willing suspension of disbelief.”
The absurd plot in the last episode stretched our suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.
According to Coleridge, enlightened readers could still enjoy literature about the supernatural because of the phenomenon he named “willing suspension of disbelief.”
Example Sentences
She said the couple were in state of panic, shock and disbelief on realising the child had died.
He chuckled at the disbelief of how things have worked out.
Singer Amy Macdonald is approaching two decades in the music industry, but admits the disbelief at hearing her songs played on the radio will never go away.
Getting swept away by a fantasy world is one of moviegoing’s more rarefied pleasures, disbelief dissolving as readily as a pill on the tongue.
It can be difficult for us to suspend the disbelief.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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