# doubt

Pronunciation: say "DOWT" /daʊt/

## Noun

1. A feeling of uncertainty or disbelief about something; a particular instance of feeling uncertain or disbelieving.
   - Simple: A feeling that you are not sure about something or do not believe it.
   - _There is little doubt about who will win the election._
   - _A nagging doubt crept into his mind as he reread the contract._
4. A question about something one has not fully understood, especially one put to a teacher for explanation. *(India)*
   - Simple: A question you ask when you do not understand something, often in class.
   - _Before the exam, she emailed the professor with one last doubt about the reading list._
   - _He stayed back to clear his doubts before the exam._

## Verb

2. To be unsure about something, to lack confidence in it, or to question whether it is true.
   - Simple: To not be sure about something, or to not believe it is true.
   - _Many scientists doubt the accuracy of that early measurement._
   - _He doubted his own memory after hearing the recording._
3. To harbor a suspicion about someone or something, or to suspect that something is the case.
   - Simple: To suspect something, or to think that it is probably true.

## Verb

5. To fear or dread something, especially to expect with dread that harm or misfortune is coming. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old meaning: to be afraid of something, or fear that something bad will happen.
6. To fill a person with fear, so that they are frightened. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make someone afraid.

## Origin

Latin dubitāre ("to be uncertain, to hesitate") passed into Old French as douter and then into Middle English as douten, the source of the verb. Where dubitō itself came from is uncertain, but one theory connects it with dubius ("wavering, doubtful"), going back in the end to duo ("two"). Early modern spelling reformers put the b into the spelling to match the Latin, but English speakers have never pronounced it. The noun has the same Old French origin.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/doubt (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).