Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who originates or is the chief proponent of a heresy or heretical movement.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A leader in heresy; an arch-heretic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A leader in heresy; the chief of a sect of heretics.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The founder of a heresy, or a major ecclesiastical proponent of such a heresy.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin haeresiarcha, from Late Greek hairesiarkhēs : Greek hairesis, sect; see heresy + Greek -arkhēs, -arch.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ecclesiastical Latin haeresiarcha, from ecclesiastical Medieval Greek ἁιρεσιαρχης (hairesiarkhēs) (“leader of a sect”), corresponding to heresy + -arch.

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