doubt
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dout
ipa: /daʊt/
ipa: /dʌʊt/
rhymes: -aʊt
homophone: dought
Forms: form: doubts
form: dout
Etymology: Etymology tree
Latin dubō
Latin -itō
Latin dubitō
Old French doterbor.
Middle English douten
Old French doter
Old French doutebor.
Middle English doute
Latin dubiusbor.
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.
Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”).
Senses: examples: text: There was some doubt as to who the child's real father was.
text: I have doubts about how to convert this code to JavaScript.
text: 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.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by John Bunyan: Being a Fac-simile Reproduction of the First Edition, London: Elliot Stock […], 1875, →OCLC, page 149:
text: She was very pretty: exceedingly pretty. With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face; a ripe little mouth, that seemed made to be kissed—as no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that melted into one another when she laughed; and the sunniest pair of eyes you ever saw in any little creature's head.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 106–107:
text: He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
ref: 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 3:
text: After all, the search for such assurances will itself require us to marshall our cognitive resources. It will itself involve the use of methods about which we can sensibly have doubts, doubts that cannot be addressed without begging the question.
ref: 1990, Richard Foley, “Skepticism and Rationality”, in Michael D. Roth, Glenn Ross, editors, Doubting: Contemporary Perspectives on Skepticism (Philosophical Studies Series; 48), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, part 1 (Concessions), page 73:
antonyms: belief
confidence
faith
glosses: Disbelief or uncertainty (about something); (countable) a particular instance of such disbelief or uncertainty.
examples: text: It is entirely normal to hear a statement like "I have just one doubt, miss" or "If you have any doubts before the exam tomorrow, come see me in the staff room". The doubts in the aforementioned sentences are not as much rooted in a lack of faith as in a lack of understanding.
ref: 2006 July 12, Vishy, “Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: doubt”, in Vishy's Indian English Dictionary, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2008:
synonyms: disbelief
antonyms: belief
tenet
hypernyms: query
qualifier: obsolete outside of India
glosses: A point of uncertainty, especially a yes/no or a multiple-choice question
Derived terms: 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
room for doubt
self-doubt
shadow of a doubt
without a doubt
without a shadow of a doubt
without doubt