agnostic

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (5)  · 
“
He never admitted William's presence by so much as a purr or a claw, and I have noticed that the agnostic is the only creature living who can treat a preacher with so much contempt.

View all »
Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
  2. noun One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
  3. noun One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • My friend himself seems to be an agnostic, and a strong supporter of the Church of England at the same time, and quite lately he earnestly counselled some young English ladies (who were Unitarians, but obliged to live abroad) to join the Church of England for the sake of 'religious fellowship.' —  Philip Gilbert Hamerton
  • He never admitted William's presence by so much as a purr or a claw, and I have noticed that the agnostic is the only creature living who can treat a preacher with so much contempt. —  A Circuit Rider's Wife
  • If I find God for myself I shall probably not behold in Him exactly what anyone else in the whole world or in all time has ever beheld in Him before I saw, too, that from a certain point of view the stand of the agnostic is a right one. —  The Conquest of Fear
  • I saw, too, that from a certain point of view the stand of the agnostic is a right one. —  The Conquest of Fear
  • William's presence by so much as a purr or a claw, and I have noticed that the agnostic is the only creature living who can treat a preacher with so much contempt. —  A Circuit Rider's Wife
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Agnostic has been looked up 579 times, favorited 0 times, listed 39 times, and commented on 5 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. a-1 + Gnostic.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Greek ἂγνωστος, unknowing, unknown, unknowable, from ἀ- privative, not, + γνωστός, later form of γνωτός, known, to be known (cf. γνωστικός, good at knowing), verbal adjective of γι-γνώ-σκ-ειν, know, =L. *gno-scere, no-sc-ere = English know: see a- and gnostic. The word agnostic was “suggested by Prof. Huxley … in 1869. … He took it from St. Paul's mention of the altar to ‘the Unknown God’ [ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ, Acts xvii. 23]. R. H. Hutton, in letter, … 1881.” N. English D.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ægˈnɑstɪk/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recent Lookups

decade · tramps · odd · gingko · NO

Recent Favorites

TelePalmter · Espoo · stick-to-it-iveness · supine · doxastic

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious