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doubt

verb
/daʊt/US/dʌʊt/CA

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin dubō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin -itō Latin dubitō Old French doterbor. Middle English douten ▲ Old French doter Old French doutebor. Middle English doute ▲ English dubiousinflu. ▲ Latin dubitōinflu. English doubt The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to doubt, fear, worry”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Spelling reformers of the early modern period added the letter b to reflect the Latin root dubitō, but it has never been pronounced in English. The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertainty, hesitation; questionable point; anxiety, fear, reverence”) [and other forms], from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt, suspect”)); see further etymology above. The ESL "question" sense is a semantic loan from Romance cognates: Portuguese dúvida, Spanish duda, Catalan dubte, French doute, Italian dubbio and others, which can all mean "question". Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”).

  1. derived from doute
  2. inherited from dout
  3. derived from *gʰeh₁bʰ-✻ — “to grab, take”
  4. derived from *dwóh₁✻ — “two”
  5. derived from dubitō — “to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”
  6. derived from douter
  7. inherited from douten — “to doubt, fear, worry”

Definitions

  1. To be undecided about

    To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.

    • He doubted that was really what you meant.
    • I had no wish to go, though I doubt if they would have noticed me even if I had.
    • Ther be but two wayes onely. The one whiche by followyng the affections ledeth to perdicion. The other whyche throughe the mortifyenge of the fleſhe: ledeth to lyfe, why doubteſt thou in thy ſelf: There is no thyrde way.

  2. To harbour suspicion about

    To harbour suspicion about; suspect.

    • I walk by the Rule of my Maſter, you walk by the rude working of your fancies. You are counted thieves already, by the Lord of the way; therefore, I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way.

  3. To anticipate with dread or fear

    To anticipate with dread or fear; to apprehend.

    • Fear naught—nay, that I need not say— / But—doubt not aught from mine array. / Thou art my guest;—I pledged my word / As far as Coilantogle ford: [...]
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. To fill with fear

      To fill with fear; to affright.

      • I'll tell ye all my fears, one ſingle valour, / the vertues of the valiant Caratach / more doubts me then all Britain: [...]

    2. To dread, to fear.

      • Edmond aþelstones broþer · after him was king · / Godmon & doutede · god þoru alle þing ·
      • Whilome in youth, when flowred my ioyfull ſpring, / Like ſwallow ſwift I wandred here and there: / For heat of heedleſſe luſt me ſo did ſting, / That I of doubted daunger had no feare.
      • Well, all's not well. I doubt some foule play, [...]

    3. Disbelief or uncertainty (about something)

      Disbelief or uncertainty (about something); (countable) a particular instance of such disbelief or uncertainty.

      • There was some doubt as to who the child's real father was.
      • I have doubts about how to convert this code to JavaScript.
      • Thus they went on talking of what they had ſeen by the way; and ſo made that way eaſie, which would otherwiſe, no doubt, have been tedious to them; for now they went through a Wilderneſs.

    4. A point of uncertainty, especially a yes/no or a multiple-choice question

      • Ma'am, I have a doubt about today's lecture

    5. a question (that one has)

The neighborhood

Derived

doubtable, doubter, doubting, doubtingly, doubting Thomas, doubting Thomasina, I doubt it, undoubted, undoubtedly, undoubting, undoubtingly, bedoubt, benefit of doubt, benefit of the doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond a reason of a doubt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, beyond a shadow of doubt, beyond doubt, beyond reasonable doubt, beyond reason of a doubt, beyond the shadow of a doubt, call into doubt, Cartesian doubt, doubtance, doubtee, doubtful, doubthouse, doubtless, doubtmonger, doubtsome, doubtworthy, doubty, in doubt, little doubt, misdoubt, no doubt, no-doubt, reasonable doubt, redoubt · +6 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at doubt. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01doubt02suspicion03suspecting04suspect05imagine06image07art08movements09movement10definite

A definitional loop anchored at doubt. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at doubt

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA