misdoubt means suspicion; hesitation.
misdoubt is pronounced /mɪsˈdaʊt/.
Why “misdoubt” is a great word
A profound doubt or suspicion regarding the reality or truth of something. From the English prefix mis- ("badly, wrongly") + doubt (from Old French douter, "to fear, doubt"), first recorded in use in the 1530s. Unlike distrust, which implies a ledger of past betrayals, or suspect, which points a finger at a specific culprit, misdoubt is a colder, more fundamental tremor in the epistemological ground—it doubts the very substance of the thing itself. It is the instinctive recoil from a story too perfectly told, the breath caught at a shadow's shift in a familiar room, or the sudden, unnameable conviction that a familiar voice belongs to a stranger. It is the intellect's shadow, cast by a light source you cannot quite locate.
Etymology
From mis- + doubt.
noun
- suspicion; hesitation
verb
- To doubt the existence or reality of.e.g.“And though all the windes of doctrin were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength.” — 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
- To have suspicions about.e.g.“I do not misdoubt my wife, but I would be loath to turn them together” — c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Bloun
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