doubt

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Indecision

Nouns

1. doubt, dubiousness, dubiety; unbelief, skepticism, pyrrhonism, disbelief; agnosticism, irreligion; incredulity, discredit; credibility gap, image spill. See improbability, dejection.

2. jealousy, suspicion, distrust, anxiety, concern.

3. uncertainty, uncertainness, incertitude; hesitation, hesitancy, suspense; perplexity, irresolution, indecision; demur, scruple, qualm, misgiving, [serious] reservations; dilemma, quandary, anybody's guess; bewilderment, vacillation, changeableness; vagueness, obscurity; riskiness, precariousness, insecurity. Informal, dark horse, cliffhanger, twilight zone.

4. doubter, unbeliever, skeptic, pyrrhonist, agnostic, doubting Thomas, man from Missouri.

Verbs

1. doubt, be doubtful, disbelieve, discredit; misbelieve; refuse to admit or believe, doubt the truth of, be skeptical, not believe one's ears or eyes, distrust, mistrust, suspect, have doubts, harbor suspicions, have one's doubts, have cold feet; take with a grain of salt; be from Missouri. Slang, not buy, set no store by.

2. (hesitate because of doubt) demur, stick at, pause, hesitate, think twice, falter, scruple. Slang, smell a rat.

3. cast doubt upon, raise a question, give pause, bring or call in question; question, challenge, dispute, deny, cause or raise a doubt or suspicion; leave hanging [in the air].

4. (be of doubtful truth) be unbelievable, fill with doubt, startle, stagger; shake or stagger one's faith or belief.

5. be uncertain, wonder whether, waver, hover, seesaw, teeter, hem and haw, sit on the fence; not know which way to turn or jump; hang by a thread or a hair, hang in the balance.

6. (cause to doubt) confuse, bewilder, baffle, stump. Slang, kerflummox.

Adjectives

1. doubting, unbelieving, incredulous, skeptical; uncertain, irresolute; distrustful, suspicious, or shy of; heretical, faithless; dubious, scrupulous.

2. doubtful, disputable, debatable, controversial, questionable, moot, problematical, suspect, under a cloud, unsettled, undecided, in midair, up in the air; open to suspicion or doubt; farfetched; staggering, fabulous, hard to believe, unbelievable, incredible, not to be believed, inconceivable, fishy; ambiguous; fallible; undemonstrable; controvertible. Slang, hinky, iffy, tall.

Adverbs — with a grain of salt, with reservations, maybe; betwixt and between.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Questioning]

Syn. distrust, mistrust, disbelief, unbelief, suspicion, misgiving, skepticism, reluctance to believe, apprehension, dubiousness, doubtfulness, dubiety, agnosticism, incredulity, faithlessness, lack of faith, want of faith, lack of confidence, lack of certainty, jealousy, discredit, rejection; see also uncertainty 1 .

Ant. faith*, trust, credence.

2. [Hesitation arising from uncertainty]

Syn. uncertainty, skepticism, scruple, misgiving, qualm, reservation, perplexity, indecision, irresolution, incertitude, hesitancy, suspense, lack of confidence or certainty, dubiety, undecidedness, faltering, vacillation, ambivalence, lack of conviction, ambiguity, dilemma, reluctance, difficulty, apprehension, wavering, demur, demurral, bewilderment, quandary, dubiousness, unsettled opinion, timidity, insecurity, bashfulness, diffidence, feeling of inferiority, inferiority complex; see also uncertainty 2 .

Ant. belief*, conviction, certainty.

See Synonym Study at uncertainty .

• beyond a doubt, without doubt,

Syn. doubtless, certainly, unquestionably, beyond the shadow of a doubt; see certain 3 , surely .

• no doubt,

Syn. doubtless, in all likelihood, certainly; see probably , surely .

v.

1. [To be uncertain]

Syn. wonder, question, query, ponder, vacillate, waver, hesitate, be dubious, be undecided, be uncertain, be curious, be puzzled, be doubtful, be in a quandary, demur, hold in doubt, have doubts about, have one's doubts, raise a question, stop to consider, have qualms, have reservations, scruple, call in question, hesitate to accept, hold questionable, greet with skepticism, skepticize, cast doubt upon, have no conception, not know which way to turn, not know what to make of, be of two minds; see also ask 1 , question 1 .

Ant. believe, trust*, confide.

2. [To entertain doubt]

Syn. suspect, mistrust, distrust, lack confidence in, discredit, give no credence to, not believe, refuse to believe, disbelieve, impugn, dispute, be apprehensive of, be skeptical of, scoff, insinuate, misgive, read somewhat differently, challenge, harbor suspicions, not admit, doubt one's word, smell a rat*, not buy*, take a dim view of*, set no store by*, put no stock in*, take no stock in*; see also deny .

Ant. support*, prove, demonstrate.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

uncertainty, question, hesitation, mistrust, indecision, misgiving, skepticism, suspicion, lack of faith, lack of conviction, qualm, apprehension, irresolution, dubiety, question mark.

ANT.: certainty, faith, confidence, trust

II

v.

question, be uncertain, hesitate, mistrust, suspect, lack faith, lack conviction, misgive, waver, *smell a rat, be dubious, harbor suspicion, be skeptical, disbelieve. ''The beacon of the wise.''—Shakespeare.

ANT.: believe, trust, accept

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I verb 1. To be uncertain, disbelieving, or skeptical about: distrust, misdoubt, mistrust, question, wonder. Idiom: have one's doubts. See CERTAIN. 2. To lack trust or confidence in: distrust, misdoubt, mistrust, suspect. See TRUST. II noun 1. A lack of conviction or certainty: doubtfulness, dubiety, dubiousness, incertitude, mistrust, question, skepticism, suspicion, uncertainty, wonder. See CERTAIN. 2. Lack of trust: distrust, leeriness, mistrust, suspicion. See TRUST.