verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
believe a lie
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How could you believe his lies?
believe a myth
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People still believe the myth that money will bring them happiness.
believe a story
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The jury did not believe Evans's story.
believe in an ideal
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We believe in the ideal of justice for all.
believe in God
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Do you believe in God?
believe in miracles
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Do you believe in miracles?
believe this/that nonsense
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Don’t tell me you believe all this nonsense about ghosts!
believe/accept an excuse
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She didn’t believe his excuse for one minute.
can’t believe your luck
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I couldn’t believe my luck as my number was called out!
experts believe sth
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Legal experts believe that the evidence will not be accepted in court.
had to be seen to be believed (= you would not believe it if you did not see it yourself )
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The accommodation was so awful it had to be seen to be believed .
it is hard to believe/imagine/see/know etc
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It was hard to see what else we could have done.
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It’s hard to believe that anyone would say something like that.
lead sb to believe/expect/understand sth
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He had led everyone to believe that his family was very wealthy.
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The hotel was terrible, and not at all what we had been led to expect.
mislead sb into believing/thinking etc sth
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Don’t be misled into thinking that scientific research is easy.
popularly believed/thought/called etc
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Vitamin C is popularly believed to prevent colds.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
firmly
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For Mr Crump, Trust, he would say and firmly believe , was the foundation of his business and his life.
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And that, I firmly believe , is our purpose in life.
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He firmly believed this was the only sensible course to pursue.
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I believe firmly in the integrity of ingredients and the virtue of seeking the highest quality.
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Therefore I firmly believe that there is a place for netting on into the future.
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I firmly believe in the cooperative ethic, I talk about it a lot.
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I firmly believe that it would be impossible to deliver that objective, even had we wanted it.
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He firmly believes music should elevate and inspire its listeners, not lull and numb them.
hardly
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I could hardly believe what I heard.
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He who is proclaimed a saint need hardly believe in sainthood.
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Jenking and Faulknor could hardly believe that it was possible to have such a difference from either side of the ship.
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Jezrael could hardly believe such extravagance.
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I could hardly believe my eyes.
in
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But one conclusion from that observation is that the theists themselves have no idea what they believe in .
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She smiled and went right on believing in herself and in her frail body.
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You're less likely to be criticised for what you really believe in .
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I believe in passing on hope, not despair.
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Yet they were doing what they believed in .
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But the war was hard to believe in , and nowhere to be seen.
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He heard Maisie's voice once more: What do you believe in ?
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Why settle for mediocre goals when you could achieve something really wonderful? Believe in yourself!
really
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I might really believe that smoking cigarettes does me no harm.
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But I really believe everybody is going to step up.
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Mr. Leigh I do not think that the hon. Lady really believes all that.
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And who really believes that there is no lobbying problem at the Capitol?
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Perhaps they did not really believe in them - or did they?
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Funny, but this time I really believe it.
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Does the public really believe these stories are spilled willingly over friendly cups of tea?
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If Coach, if Mr Lewis, really believed I could do this...
still
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Such action, I believed - and still believe - would have played into the hands of my enemies.
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Many traders and economists still believe the dollar is likely to head higher in the medium term.
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Men as a rule are very selfish and still believe that women are born to serve them.
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I still believed Jasper would live.
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I still believe we were right, but don't stand too near to me - just in case.
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As for me, I still believe in trees.
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Most agents at headquarters still believed he would be fully operable once his parallel systems booted up and stopped the repetition.
widely
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They doubt that Caravaggio was even homosexual, as is widely believed .
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It was widely believed that he had been fired by the Board of Higher Education.
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It was widely believed that had Mr Dempsey not announced his resignation he would have been forced to step down.
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He was widely believed in the Arab world.
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No one attempted to rescue him because it was widely believed that Farini had concocted the entire accident.
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Today it is widely believed that the dream of escape can come true at last.
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Political observers widely believe Perot is backing the Reform Party as a vehicle that would allow him to seek the presidency again.
■ NOUN
luck
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I couldn't believe my luck .
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They believe it is bad luck .
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I sometimes could not believe my good luck , and was grateful for it.
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I believed it brought me luck .
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Hargreaves couldn't believe his luck when G.G. MacPhee reliably informed him it hadn't been climbed.
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Impoverished Ojani Noa couldn't believe his luck .
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Sally-Anne could not believe her luck !
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She couldn't believe her luck .
people
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Many people believe that they help emotional and psychological symptoms; they are available from some chemists and health food shops.
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The people believed , and many of them were putting money into improving their homes, modernizing their small businesses.
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In New York, police estimated that 4,700,000 people watched what was believed to be the largest-ever ticker-tape parade.
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Many fat people believe that just meeting Richard Simmons in person is enough to motivate them enough to become thin.
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At least 6 people are believed to have been killed.
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When they began appearing all over town, people began believing he could win.
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Many people in Orkney believed he was succeeding - until the morning of 27 February 1991.
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A recent poll found that more young people believe in UFOs than believe Social Security will exist when they retire.
police
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The diplomat told police he believed that his brakes failed.
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West Mercia Police believe they now have one of the world's most sophisticated centres for training armed officers.
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Close to the tree was a shattered tumbler, which police believe Elizabeth used to try to defend herself.
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Colin Richardson, Mrs Godwin's neighbour, says Police believe the motive for the murders was robbery.
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The police believe magistrates are under pressure to grant bail, even when officers advise them it could be dangerous.
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Here thieves removed a picture from the wall and police believe they then walked out with it hidden under a long raincoat.
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He was seen in the city at around 5.30am yesterday. Police believe he could have taken the train from Lime Street.
reason
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There are good family economic reasons for believing that fertility will not become high.
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Is there reason to believe some-thing will be different this time than in years gone by?
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She has no reason to believe that it was anything other than an accident.
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And there is little reason to believe that the gray matter inside the skull changed much, either.
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There is, then, no reason to believe Freemantle when she claims to have had little interest in poetry.
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Thus, Chirac had good reasons to believe that his majority in the National Assembly would lose the elections scheduled for 1998.
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If the arrivals of comets in the inner Solar System were totally haphazard we would have little reason to believe such ideas.
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But, for the first time, there is reason to believe that this is over.
■ VERB
can
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Your son-in-law and his boss may have taken this precaution, but can his wife believe his word?
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He is not short. Can you believe that such perfection is mere happenstance?
lead
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We are led to believe that there are administrative problems.
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All of which might lead you to believe they were rather learned, charitable folk.
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He did not see any of the prisoners but was led to believe they were still inside.
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I had led him to believe that he was not so much a servant as a comrade.
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He is leading us to believe that the information will never be provided.
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Contrary to what some Democrats would lead you to believe , U. S. Sen.
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Museum officials, however, claim they were led to believe that Portland stone would be used.
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She was older than first glance had led Christina to believe .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I'd like to think/believe (that)
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I'd like to believe that he's telling the truth.
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I'd like to think I know a little about airplanes.
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But I 'd like to think that gallantry isn't dead.
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Dad and I clashed more than I 'd like to think about.
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I 'd like to think Beardsley and Wright will get the nod and Graham doesn't get it wrong again.
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I 'd like to think that it does have some meaning.
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It is a novelty record in some respects, although I 'd like to think it's a lot deeper than that too.
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Perhaps it wasn't very subtle, but I 'd like to think it was funny.
be inclined to agree/think/believe etc
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After reading this book, you might be inclined to think so.
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Before then, we are inclined to believe only hip jazz musicians and self-destructive beat poets did dope.
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I am inclined to believe the police.
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Or did he, as some are inclined to think, actually invent it?
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Some conservative politicians were inclined to agree.
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Still, when he makes a statement such as you refer to, I would be inclined to believe him.
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We are inclined to think of connections between earlier and later events rather than connections between simultaneous events.
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You are inclined to agree with their judgement.
fondly imagine/believe/hope etc
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Some people fondly believe that chess-playing computers work by internally trying out all possible combinations of chess moves.
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Some Tories fondly imagine that privatisation will eliminate the need to subsidise the railways.
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The Gombe rainforest is not the sort of Eden we might fondly imagine.
give sb to understand/think/believe sth
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A parting sniff as she left the room gave the gentleman to understand that he had disappointed her.
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But he had also given her time to think what she was doing.
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But the knotted tensions between people and groups of people give us plenty to think about.
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He would have given anything to believe that Isambard was lying.
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Ireland would be given something new to think about.
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It obviously gave him plenty to think about.
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She'd given more time to thinking about Lucy than anything else for months.
make believe
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Right, kids. We don't have any proper cowboy hats so you'll have to make believe.
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She's not really a queen -- it's only make-believe .
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The two little girls used to make believe that they were princesses.
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You can't go on making believe that nothing is wrong.
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For two hours, they're packed together as the Hercules fly low above the make believe battle zone.
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If somebody gives you something to read, you make believe you read it...
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Or l would make believe he owed me money.
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She made believe that they were as happy together as they should be, and was careful to weep only in secret.
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The make believe world of Disney is a truly magical experience that knows no age barriers.
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You seem to think that it's all a game, a make believe.
not believe/think/do sth for a/one moment
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His hand had not wavered for a moment .
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His leader did not believe for one moment the protestations of innocence.
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I do not concede for a moment that this is a devolution measure.
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I would not suggest for one moment that they existed here.
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Neither team will half-step, not even for a moment .
not hear/understand/believe a word
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Do not believe a word of it.
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For the rest of the journey Maria prattled on about Bradford, but Ruth did not hear a word .
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However, it also shows that they are not very useful, for Hera did not believe a word of it.
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I kept it up until I was certain you were not hearing a word .
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To date I've not heard word one about such a plague in the Czech Republic.
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We had not heard a word about my father all this time.
not think/believe etc for one minute
sb can be forgiven for thinking/believing/feeling etc sth
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Both sides firmly believe that a peace settlement is now possible.
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Did the police believe his story?
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I asked them for a $10,000 loan, and believe it or not they said yes.
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I firmly believe that we are responsible for what happens to us in our lives.
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I had always believed Catherine to be absolutely honest in money matters.
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I told them I didn't do it, but no one believed me.
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Only those who believe will go to heaven.
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People used to believe that the sun moved around the earth.
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Police believe that the money was stolen by a gang of youths.
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Students weren't sure who to believe .
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The party believes strongly that health care should be provided for everyone.
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We believe human rights are more important than economic considerations.
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You can't believe everything you read in the papers.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But people like Shakiri do not believe there can be a peaceful solution to the crisis.
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Disney executives believe the porcelain models will become another lucrative spin off for their cartoon empire.
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Labour still believes that it has a better story about its own plans for improving public services than the Tories.
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Some experts believe that adrenaline provides the body with the extra boost it needs to make up for lost sleep.
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The suit was settled last month, days before former Crypto engineers were to testify that they believed the machines were altered.
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Well, he was not what Shula believed him to be.