doubt
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *du(i)βwos
Latin *dubosdenom.
Latin dubō
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Italic *-tos
Latin -tus
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: doubts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: doubting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: doubted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: doubted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: doubts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: dout
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: 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.
There be but two wayes onely⸝ the one whiche by obedyence of the affections ledeth to ꝑdicion [perdition]: the other whiche thrugh the mortifyenge of the fleſſhe ledeth to lyfe. Why doubteſt thou in thy ſelf⸝ there is no thyrde waye, […]
For they be not termed Eclogues, but Æglogues, vvhich ſentence this authour very vvell obſeruing, vpon good iudgement, though indeede fevv Goteheards haue to doe herein, netheleſſe doubteth not to cal thẽ by the vſed and beſt knovven name.
And as for that faith, vvhich is vvithout vvorkes, and yet ſeemeth to thes men to be ſufficient for their ſaluation; he proteſteth, that it is ſo vnprofitable, as he doubteth not to ſaye of hymſelf; [...]
For never (I thinke) was there any woman, that with more unremovable determinatiõ gave her selfe to the coũcell of Love, after she had once set before her mind the worthines of your cousin Amphialus; & yet is nether her wisdome doubted of, nor honour blemished.
Now it is not required nor can be exacted at our hands, that we ſhould yeeld vnto any thing other aſſent, then ſuch as doth anſwer the euidence which is to be had of that wee aſſent to. For which cauſe euen in matters diuine, concerning ſome things we may lawfully doubt and ſuſpend our iudgement, inclining neyther to one ſide or other, [...]
He that will enter in muſt firſt without / Stand knocking at the Gate, nor need he doubt / That is a knocker but to enter in; / For God can love him, and forgive his ſin.
Have I not manag'd my contrivance well, / To try your Love and make you doubt of mine?
As to the efficacy of such legislation and taxation a word may be said. No one doubts that it is possible, by the employment of such methods, to make the rich poorer. [...] But the really important question—for all serious-minded inquirers—is whether the employment of these weapons will diminish the poverty or increase the prosperity of the relatively poor.
And thus no longer trusting to His might, / Who saith we "walk by faith and not by sight," / Doubting, and almost yielding to despair, / The thought arose—My cross I cannot bear.
"Your philosophy is very pretty," Tom Douty said slowly, "but I can't help doubting that this is not the right time to start the new business."
[B]oth colonisers and colonised lost faith in the colonisers' vision of the future. Europeans doubted whether their aims were attainable; Africans doubted whether they were desirable.
In one study, 60% of Black students believed that their academic abilities were doubted by their White peers, and 60% felt that their White professors doubted them as well.
We may doubt the just proportion of good to ill.
There is much in nature against us. But we forget:
Take nature altogether since time began,
Including human nature, in peace and war,
And it must be a little more in favor of man,[…]
gloss: To harbour suspicion about; suspect.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Rushing to the door of the church, [Robert the] Bruce met two powerful barons, [Roger de] Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, and James de Lindsay, who eagerly asked him what tidings? "Bad tidings," answered Bruce, "I doubt I have slain [John] Comyn." "Doubtest thou?" said Kirkpatrick, "I make sicker" (i.e. sure.) With these words, he and Lindsay rushed into the church, and dispatched the wounded Comyn.
gloss: To anticipate with dread or fear; to apprehend.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: The rest of his horsemen the Duke sent to his campe, bicause they heard a great noise there, and doubted the enimies sally, and indeede they had issued foorth thrise, but were alwaies repulsed, especially through the valiantns of the English men that the Duke left there behind him [...]
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: [...]
gloss: To fill with fear; to affright.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: I'll tell ye all my fears, one ſingle valour, / the vertues of the valiant Caratach / more doubts me then all Britain: [...]
gloss: To dread, to fear.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
obsolete
examples: 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, [...]
[H]ow many good Christians are there, who consider themselves the beloved of Christ & the invariable followers of his gospel, who with all his precepts in their mind go to Africa, wrest the mother from the infant—the father from the wife—chain them to the whip & lash, they & their posterity for ever, nay hold this scourge in their own hand & inflict it with all the gout of their abominable appetites, & who do not doubt that they are violating the whole doctrine of the author of their religion—To what absurdities may not the human mind bring itself when this can be thought by them less offensive to God, than eating meat on a friday?—
At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay, / Juan contrived to give an awkward blow, / And then his only garment quite gave way; / He fled, like Joseph, leaving it; but there, / I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair.
I shall never know whether they got at the truth o' the robbery, nor whether Mr Paston could ha' given me any light about the drawing o' the lots. It's dark to me, Mrs Winthrop, that is; I doubt it'll be dark to the last.
gloss: Disbelief or uncertainty (about something); (countable) a particular instance of such disbelief or uncertainty.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: A point of uncertainty, especially a yes/no or a multiple-choice question
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Ma'am, I have a doubt about today's lecture
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.
gloss: a question (that one has)
pos: noun
tags: countable
Related words: dubiety
dubious
Derived words: 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
room for doubt
self-doubt
shadow of a doubt
without a doubt
without a shadow of a doubt
without doubt
Translations: