The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

whip.
belated adj. late; behind time, behindhand, out of date; delayed,
detained: I forgot your birthday, so here's a belated gift.
belief n. 1 trust, dependence, reliance, confidence, faith, security,
assurance: He retains his belief in the divine right of kings.
2 acceptance, credence; assent: His statements are unworthy of
belief. 3 tenet, view, idea, sentiment, conviction, doctrine,
dogma, principle(s), axiom, maxim, creed, opinion, persuasion:
The belief that there is no God is as definite a creed as the
belief in one God or in many gods. 4 intuition, judgement: It
is her belief that nuclear energy will eventually prove
economical.
believe v. 1 accept, put faith or credence in or into, find credible,
find creditable; allow, think, hold, maintain, feel; take it,
suppose, assume: He still believes that the moon is made of
green cheese. 2 believe in. trust to or in, rely upon or on,
have faith or confidence in, put one's trust in, be convinced
of, swear by, credit; have the courage of one's convictions: Do
you believe everything you read in the papers? The chairman
believes in your ability to carry out the plan. 3 make believe.
pretend, suppose, imagine, fancy, conjecture, assume: I used to
make believe I was a great detective.
belittle v. diminish, minimize, disparage, slight, decry, detract from,
depreciate, trivialize, deprecate, degrade, denigrate,
downgrade, de-emphasize, discredit, criticize, derogate; reduce,
mitigate, lessen, undervalue, underestimate, underrate,
minimize, Colloq play down, pooh-pooh: He belittles the efforts
of others but accomplishes nothing himself.
belligerent
adj. 1 warring; warlike, militant, warmongering, hawkish,
jingoistic, bellicose, martial: The belligerent nations have
agreed to discuss an accord. 2 quarrelsome, pugnacious,
contentious, disputatious, truculent, aggressive, hostile,
combative, antagonistic, bellicose: I cannot see why you have
to take such a belligerent attitude towards the chairman.
--n. 3 warring party, antagonist, contestant; warmonger, hawk,
jingoist, militant: Our country has refused to sell arms to the