Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The doctrine that certainty about first principles or absolute truth is unattainable and that only perceptual phenomena are objects of exact knowledge.
- n. The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The doctrines of the agnostics; the doctrine that the ultimate cause and the essential nature of tilings are unknowable, or at least unknown.
- n. Belief in the doctrines of the agnostics.
Wiktionary
- n. The view that absolute truth or ultimate certainty is unattainable, especially regarding knowledge not based on experience or perceivable phenomena.
- n. The view that the existence of God or of all deities is unknown, unknowable, unproven, or unprovable.
- n. Doubt, uncertainty, or scepticism regarding the existence of a God or of all deities.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That doctrine which, professing ignorance, neither asserts nor denies. The doctrine that the existence of a personal Deity, an unseen world, etc., can be neither proved nor disproved, because of the necessary limits of the human mind (as sometimes charged upon Hamilton and Mansel), or because of the insufficiency of the evidence furnished by physical and physical data, to warrant a positive conclusion (as taught by the school of Herbert Spencer); -- opposed alike dogmatic skepticism and to dogmatic theism.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge
- n. a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God
Examples
“Coined by T.H. Huxley, the term agnosticism means "no knowledge" and thus contends one is unable to know anything about God”
“(I still think agnosticism is legitimate doctrine, although Dawkins railed against agnostics in the book).”
“Packet-agnosticism is a bad idea (which is why different levels of packet-inspection exist at all.)”
“But agnosticism is all about doubt and uncertainty and the courage to admit ignorance.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Krasny: Just Say 'I Don't Know'
“But often agnosticism is really an expression of cant be bothered to think right now ...”
“[4] Strong agnosticism is a religious application of this position.”
“The argument for government agnosticism is that, unlike government endorsement of any particular religious proposition, it is not in principle impossible for everyone to agree to it.”
“Not along ago, I happened once again upon that old assertion that agnosticism is the only rational belief because, "You can't prove a negative.”
“When I say that the agnostics have discovered agnosticism, and have now recovered from the shock, I do not mean merely to sneer at the identity of the word agnosticism with the word ignorance.”
“In order to meet this demand, Huxley invented the word agnosticism, to serve as a label for his own attitude.”
Thomas Henry Huxley A Sketch Of His Life And Work
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘agnosticism’.
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religion
who is this god person, anyway? (--Douglas Adams)
sachristy, vestry, diocese, papal, cardinal, pope, polygamy, seven, father, chaplain, vestments, blessing and 227 more...
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Words to live by
and my mantras
faith, God, Buddha, Muhammad, laughter, simplicity, hope, gratitude, Jesus, science, theology, agnosticism and 16 more...

oroboros Here's an elegant and suasive essay: Agnosticism and Other Essays, by Edgar Fawcett. Jul 11, 2008