disbelief

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-West Germanic *laubu Old English lēafa Middle English bileve English belief English disbelief From dis- + belief.

1. An unpreparedness, unwillingness, or an inability to believe that something is the case.

   “She cried out in disbelief on hearing that terrorists had crashed an airplane into the World Trade Center in New York City.”

2. Astonishment.

   “I stared in disbelief at the Grand Canyon.”

3. The loss or abandonment of a belief; the cessation of belief.

   “There is an agony of suffering in that lingering doubt which haunts the human soul in the beginnings of disbelief.”

   “No adolescent can achieve disbelief in the stork without an eruption of young oaths and cynicisms.”