belfry, n. bell tower, campanile, Archit. cupola, Archit. dome, steeple, spire; turret, minaret. belie, v. 1. misrepresent, falsify, distort, garble, pervert; disguise, color, varnish; understate, gloss over, minimize, belittle; stretch, exaggerate, magnify, amplify, overstate; deceive, mislead, misdirect, misguide, misinform.
2. contradict, deny, gainsay; oppose, contravene, counteract; renounce, repudiate, disavow; apostatize, desert, abandon, forsake, renege, Inf. go back on; backslide, regress, relapse, fail. belief, n. 1. credence, view, viewpoint, opinion, sentiment, mind; conviction, convincedness, persuasion, position; judgment, conclusion, deduction, inference, thinking; knowledge, understanding, comprehension.
2. feeling, intuition, divination, impression, fancy; attitude, way of thinking, experience; conjecture, guess, surmise, suspicion; apprehension, perception; notion, idea, concept, conception; assumption, supposition, presupposition, premise, presumption; hypothesis, thesis, theory, postulate, postulation.
3. faith, trust, reliance, dependence; confidence, assurance, certainty, freedom from doubt; security, secureness, assuredness, sureness; hope, expectation; acceptance, acquiescence, compliance, assent.
4. tenet, principles, teaching, rule, Eccles. catechism; doctrine, dogma, canon, axiom, theorem, maxim; sect, religion, denomination, affiliation, cult, leaning, fellowship, communion; creed, declaration, profession. believe, v. 1. maintain, assert, opine, hold, dare say; consider, regard, conceive, acknowledge, recognize; judge, deem, conclude, deduce, infer, think; posit, postulate, hypothesize, theorize.
2. understand, comprehend, know, realize, get through one's head; perceive, apprehend, feel, intuit, divine; guess, conjecture, surmise, suspect, fancy, imagine; assume, suppose, Archaic, trow, presuppose, presume.
3. trust, have faith in, confide in, put confidence in, Inf. take or put stock in, credit; accept, take it, Inf buy, Inf. swallow, Sl. fall for; hope, expect.
4. believe in a. be persuaded of, be convinced, be sure of, swear by, take [s.o.] at his word. b. put faith in, pin one's faith on, repose in, build on, anchor on; count on, rely on, depend on, calculate on, lean on, cling to; be confident of, have confidence, be certain of, be assured of, be satisfied. belittle, v. 1. disparage, decry, deprecate, demean, detract, deflate, derogate, Inf talk down; mitigate, bate, lessen, attenuate, decrease, diminish, boil down, wither, shrivel, subtract from, cheapen, devaluate, depreciate, downgrade, degrade, lower, reduce; shorten, shrink, abridge, contract, condense, compress, curtail, narrow, cut short, truncate, obtruncate; dwarf, bedwarf, overshadow, make small.
2. minimize, slight, underrate, undervalue, beggar, misprize, extenuate, underestimate, underreckon, think nothing of, set no store by, fail to count on; deemphasize, underplay, make light of, Inf. play down.
3. discredit, disfavor, disprove, make disreputable, injure or impair the credit or reputation of; criticize, pull to pieces, carp or cavil at; satirize, lampoon, pasquinade, caricature, ridicule, mock, poke fun at, laugh at, jibe at, sneer at, deride, disdain, contemn, scorn, scoff, spurn, pooh-pooh.
4. humiliate, humble, mortify, Sl. put down, make [s.o.] eat humble pie or crow or his words, make [s.o.] swallow his words; shame, disgrace, dishonor, abase, debase, vitiate; slur, sully, vilify, malign, blacken, impugn, traduce, falsify, scandalize, smear, smirch, besmirch, taint, defame, denigrate, impute, asperse, slander, libel, calumniate, SI. dump on, drag through the mud or mire, heap dirt upon, fling dirt, SI. dump on, SI. badmouth, SI. poormouth.