beggar belief
(intransitive, chiefly, UK) To appear implausible or unbelievable.
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UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
(intransitive, chiefly, UK) To appear implausible or unbelievable.
In Shakespeare's day boys or men took the part of women, and how characters like Lady Macbeth and Desdemona were adequately rendered by youths beggars belief.
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Semantically related
- belief-beggaring87%
(chiefly, UK) That beggars belief; unbelievable.
- beggar70%
A person who begs.
- beggar68%
(colloquial, sometimes, affectionate) A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.
- beggar66%
A person suffering from extreme poverty.
- put the beggar on the gentleman65%
(UK, idiom, slang, obsolete) To follow up something good with something inferior.