Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person inflexibly attached to a practice or theory without regard to its practicality.
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a person inflexibly attached to a practice or theory. See Synonyms at dictatorial.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who theorizes without a sufficient regard to practical considerations; a political theorist; an ideologist; one who undertakes to explain things by one narrow theory or group of theories, leaving out of view all other forces at work.
- n. In French history, during the period of the Restoration (1815-30) and later, one of a class of politicians and political philosophers who desired a constitution constructed on historical principles, especially after the analogy of the British constitution. They were opposed to absolutism and to revolutionary ideas, and were devoted to abstract doctrines and theories rather than to practical politics. Their chief leaders were Royer-Collard and Guizot.
- Characteristic of a doctrinaire or unpractical theorist; merely theoretical; insisting upon the exclusive importance of a one-sided theory.
Wiktionary
- n. A person who stubbornly holds to his or her philosophy or opinion regardless of its feasibility.
- adj. stubbornly holding on to an idea without concern for practicalities or reality.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who would apply to political or other practical concerns the abstract doctrines or the theories of his own philosophical system; a propounder of a new set of opinions; a dogmatic theorist. Used also adjectively.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. stubbornly insistent on theory without regard for practicality or suitability
- n. a stubborn person of arbitrary or arrogant opinions
Etymologies
- French, from doctrine, doctrine, from Old French; see doctrine. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word doctrinaire -- word full of terror to the British mind -- reappeared from time to time between his explosions.”
“None of them can fairly be described as doctrinaire: by that time an artist with a pronounced taste for abstractions betook himself to Cubism almost as a matter of course.”
“He lamented that since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, "Pacifica has also become more partisan and far more doctrinaire, which is a real shame, as the original mission of the network was firmly in line with the intent of the Fairness Doctrine, in that, Pacifica wanted to present all viewpoints on the network.”
“What I believe Clinton meant by the "conventional wisdom" is the kind of doctrinaire "purist liberalism" that allows for no pragmatic compromise or recognition that liberal reform must come incrementally.”
The Huffington Post: Lanny Davis: Liberals At War Again ... With Each Other
“It might sound drily 'doctrinaire', but a core set of principles exist to help you to make sense of turmoil.”
“That's what was so funny about you calling out Freder for being too "doctrinaire" the other day.”
Suing your own abortionist for making you witness the murder of your accidentally delivered child.
“The day after the Vatican announced that Kasper was to be elevated to cardinal — a sign that he was likely to succeed Cardinal Cassidy as the head of the office — an Austrian magazine published an interview in which Kasper found fault with the document's "doctrinaire" tone and its "clumsy and ambiguous" treatment of other Christian bodies.”
“But it's an interesting hypothesis, and one doesn't refute it simply by shouting "economicist!" or name-calling "doctrinaire".”
“What I mean to say is I find the idea of some kind of doctrinaire restrictions placed on artistic expression abhorrent enough.”
“Therefore, I think it is most important that we, having these positions, should not assume any kind of doctrinaire attitude towards life.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘doctrinaire’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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Keywords, by Raymond Williams
From a book about life and death.
aesthetic, alienation, art, behaviour, bourgeois, bureaucracy, capitalism, career, charity, city, civilization, class and 99 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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the brothers
factotem, extrapolation, antinomy, antenome, pusillanimous, capons, caftan, pejorative, cropper, cowl, perfidious, fichu and 138 more...
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GRE
pejorative, austere, unconscionable, lissome, edify, winsome, axiom, malinger, abjure, deleterious, contumacious, peregrinate and 152 more...
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G...R...E
gross.
sybarite, restiveness, churl, nepotism, jingoism, pusillanimous, gaffe, incisive, enervate, bucolic, concomitant, abeyance and 158 more...
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Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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GRE list #2
FOM - cards - 1/2
abjure, abscond, abstemious, accretion, acidulous, acme, adulterate, aerie, affected, aggrandize, alacrity, mitigate and 221 more...
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