doctrinaire

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“
But he was vindictive against him whom he called the professional doctrinaire, and he had vile names for the man.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A person inflexibly attached to a practice or theory without regard to its practicality.
  2. adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of a person inflexibly attached to a practice or theory. See Synonyms at dictatorial.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • History is a dangerous ground for a doctrinaire to investigate The former of the two novels is mainly psychological. —  Balzac
  • He will not speak to the country as the representative of a party divided in its counsels or as a dreamer or doctrinaire, but rather will he stand before the country as the practical idealist, defending, not apologizing for, every achievement of his administration In his Youngstown speech, Justice Hughes found no difficulty in attacking the economic theories of Bryan. —  WOODROW WILSON AS I KNOW HIM
  • He wrote, for all his scholarly grace, like a man of flesh and blood, not a pedant nor a doctrinaire. —  The Life of Froude
  • I can tell you from personal experience, this country is hurting badly, and I believe many voters will be looking beyond ideology and impulsive patriotism this year (with the exception of the wingnut community that alway votes doctrinaire -- god and country, right or wrong). —  One Thousand Reasons
  • Ascher, apparently, had some approval for the doctrinaire constitutionalism of university professors turned diplomats. —  Gossamer 1915
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from doctrine, doctrine, from Old French; see doctrine.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Dutch doctrinair = Danish Swedish doktrinär, from French doctrinaire, from Middle Latin *doctrinarius, pertaining to doctrine, from Latin doctrina, doctrine: see doctrine.
 

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/dɑktrɪˈnɛr/
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