doubt – English noun declension

English noun forms of doubt

Noun: doubt
Singulardoubt
Pluraldoubts

Sample Sentences

  • There was some doubt as to who the child's real father was.
  • I have doubts about how to convert this code to JavaScript.
  • Thus they went on talking of what they had ſeen by the way; and ſo made that way eaſie, which would otherwiſe, no doubt, have been tedious to them; for now they went through a Wilderneſs. [1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress as Originally Published by John Bunyan: Being a Fac-simile Reproduction of the First Edition, London: Elliot Stock […], 1875, →OCLC, page 149:]
  • She was very pretty: exceedingly pretty. With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face; a ripe little mouth, that seemed made to be kissed—as no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that melted into one another when she laughed; and the sunniest pair of eyes you ever saw in any little creature's head. [1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 106–107:]
  • He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts. [1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 3:]
  • After all, the search for such assurances will itself require us to marshall our cognitive resources. It will itself involve the use of methods about which we can sensibly have doubts, doubts that cannot be addressed without begging the question. [1990, Richard Foley, “Skepticism and Rationality”, in Michael D. Roth, Glenn Ross, editors, Doubting: Contemporary Perspectives on Skepticism (Philosophical Studies Series; 48), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, part 1 (Concessions), page 73:]
  • Ma'am, I have a doubt about today's lecture
  • It is entirely normal to hear a statement like "I have just one doubt, miss" or "If you have any doubts before the exam tomorrow, come see me in the staff room". The doubts in the aforementioned sentences are not as much rooted in a lack of faith as in a lack of understanding. [2006 July 12, Vishy, “Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: doubt”, in Vishy's Indian English Dictionary, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2008:]

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Italic *du(i)βwos
3. Latin *dubosdenom.
4. Latin dubō
5. Proto-Indo-European *-tós
6. Proto-Italic *-tos
7. Latin -tus
8. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
9. Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
10. Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
11. Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
12. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
13. Proto-Italic *-ājō
14. Proto-Italic *-āō
15. Latin -ō
16. Latin -tō
17. Latin -itō
18. Latin dubitō
19. Old French doterbor.
20. Middle English douten
21. ▲
22. Old French doter
23. Old French doutebor.
24. Middle English doute
25. ▲
26. English dubiousinflu.
27. ▲
28. Latin dubitōinflu.
29. English doubt
30. The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to doubt, fear, worry”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Spelling reformers of the early modern period added the letter b to reflect the Latin root dubitō, but it has never been pronounced in English.
31. The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertainty, hesitation; questionable point; anxiety, fear, reverence”) [and other forms],
32. from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt, suspect”)); see further etymology above.
33. The ESL "question" sense is a semantic loan from Romance cognates: Portuguese dúvida, Spanish duda, Catalan dubte, French doute, Italian dubbio and others, which can all mean "question".
34. Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”). See: Latin Nouns 'dubitō', Middle English Nouns 'dout', Portuguese Nouns 'dúvida', Spanish Nouns 'duda', Catalan Nouns 'dubte', French Nouns 'doute', Italian Nouns 'dubbio'.

Verbs referencing "doubt"

Irish Nouns dabht.