what does belief mean

When I believe a statement, don't I accept it as true?

Many words have different meanings in different contexts. Essentially, I think kennethamy is right on.

For Information Only.

Believe:

1. To have confidence or faith in (a person), and consequently to rely upon, trust to.
a. To believe in a person (also in Scripture in, or on, his name). [Cf. late L. credere in aliquem.]
b. To believe in a thing, e.g. the truth of a statement or doctrine; also in mod. usage, in the genuineness, virtue, or efficacy of a principle, institution, or practice.
c. Formerly with of = on, in.
d. absol. To exercise faith.
2. To give credence to (a person, or his statement); to trust (from L. credere alicui). Obs. Replaced by 5, 6.
3. ellipt. To believe in (a person or thing), i.e. in its actual existence or occurrence.
4. To trust, expect, think to do (something). Obs. Cf. BELIEF 5.
5. To give credence to (a person in making statements, etc.). Object orig. dat.: cf. 2. Phrases. I believe you, an expression of emphatic agreement; believe (you) me, phr. strengthening an assertion.
6. a. To give credence to, to accept (a statement) as true [cf. L. credere aliquid]. Also in colloq. phrases strengthening an assertion, as believe it or not, would you believe it? (see WILL v.1 43), you'd better believe (see BETTER a. 4b).
b. To accept (a thing) as authentic. Obs.
7. With clause or equivalent inf. phrase: To hold it as true that..., to be of opinion, think.
8. To hold as true the existence of. Obs. (Now expressed by 3.)

Oxford English Dictionary.

iconoclast.

"I believe the sun will rise tomorrow"
"I believe that Chicago is north of St.Louis"
"I believe that the Bible is the word of god"
"I believe the Cubs will win the pennant"

We use the same word, but really mean entirely different things in each example. Perhaps it would be best to avoid its use entirely in this discussion. Perhaps we could distinguish between belief and knowledge as a beginning.

Let's see if I can conjure up a working definition:

[CENTER]Belief is adherence to an idea or principle when there is insufficient support for an individual to call it 'knowledge'.
[/CENTER]

How's that?

Belief replaced the original west Germanic expression geleafa derived from galaub, meaning "dear, esteemed" cir. 1175 B.C.E. The ultimate derivation was, "from that to believe." This in turn developed in the 15th century from belief which meant "trust in God." At this time, the term paralleled faith, which meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty" which originally had no notion of divinity until the beginning of the 14th century.

But faith (latin. Fides) took on a religious sense in the 14th century when scriptural translations began to influence the context of the word. Belief on the other hand had by the 16th century become limited to "mental acceptance of something as true" from the religious sense of "things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine."

Belief- OED-2001

do you mean to beleive something or to beleive in something, because theres a difference there

the first example is probability, the second is knowlege, the third is faith and the fourth is trust or "to put your faith in" something, non religiously, or maybe actually it is religiously, some sports fans actually go that far.

beleif also gets mixed up with truth and lies. "i beleived your lie" for example. so it has many uses, and i wish the original poster wasn't so bleak in starting off this discussion.

Our meditation about the meaning of belief has now depended. We have made, if I am correct, several important distinctions:

Belief/Knowledge
Belief/ Belief (in)
Belief/Faith

These may help in the discussion of the original question, "When I believe a statement, don't I accept it as true?"

i believe many things some because of forces beyond my control i beleive evreyone was created equally, i believe no one was created before anyone else i dont believe in god i believe in evolution of life . i believe that death will one day walk the earth breathing air just like i do. i believe by that time the souls of all those on earth will have evololved in such away spiritually that death will never touch them. i believe that that when i believe in something be it a pleasant htought or a painful thought it was my thought and i now hold the strength that that painful thought appeared to have over me. i believe that we will one day walk as kings on this earth when the dead shall walk and all their principalities and powers will be useless because we now and continue to fuel them. i believe that we should live for the moment until the day of eternity when the past present and future all exist. selah