gnostic

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
If they don't want a particular text to be gnostic, they will say that it doesn't have this-that-or-the-other characteristic that is gnostic.

View all »
Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Having knowledge; possessing mystic or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things. Idealism is not necessarily either gnostic or agnostic, but is more apt to be the former than the latter. R. Flint, Mind, XIII. 596.
  2. Worldly-wise; knowing; clever or smart. [Humorous.] I said you were a d—d gnostic fellow, and I laid a bet you have not been always professional—that's all. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, v.
  3. [capitalized] Pertaining to the Gnostics or to Gnosticism; cabalistic; theosophic. Marcion distinguished himself by his extreme opposition to Judaism, and generally by a Gnostic attitude at variance with the Old Testament. Encyc. Brit., X. 704.
1 more from this dictionary »

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • These works are the historic chronicle Seder Olam [43] and the gnostic or mystic treatise on the Creation, the Sefer Yezirah; the forerunner of the Kabbalah. —  Rashi
  • Mr Qadeer is standing in the belly of a shrine that he is building to a modern gnostic, Hafiz Iqbal, whom he venerates especially. —  Bloggers.Pakistan
  • With this in mind, he rejects what he refers to as dualism or a gnostic understanding that separates body and spirit and denies the value of the body. —  Ponderings on a Faith Journey
  • I love how the argument in this article uses an essentially gnostic, otherworldly vision of Jesus to support its claims. —  GetReligion
  • And in a sense he is correct; Bell is a hero to the mystical interspiritual set who in their delusion of spiritual pride think their neo-gnostic meditation powwows will eventually unite all religions. —  Apprising Ministries
More examples »
 

Tags

gnostic hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 68 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Greek γνωστικός, knowing (as a noun, Γνωστικός, later Late Latin Gnosticus, a Gnostic; usually in plural); feminine ἡ γνωστική, or neuter το\ γνωστικόν, the power or faculty of knowing (used with reference to γνῶσις, knowledge, especially higher or deeper knowledge); from γνωστός, collateral form of γνωτός, verbal adjective of γιγνώσκειν, γνῶναι = Latin noscere = English know: see know, gnome, and cf. gnosis, agnostic, etc.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

If you'd like to prod us on getting a pronunciation for this word, sign in (or sign up) and let us know.

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 once a year.

Recently looked up

Biglaw · well-conceived · organelle · abnegating · newbie

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich