heretic

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Is a marriage less a marriage because a heretic is the husband?

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A person who holds controversial opinions, especially one who publicly dissents from the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
  2. adjective Heretical.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

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

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Examples (50)

  • I admit that I could classify as a heretic, as I disagree with a number of doctrines.
  • He's been labelled a heretic, a sodomite, a liar, a hypocrite, a traitor willing to sell the Malays and Malaysians out at a moment's notice. —  desiderata-ylchong
  • Such tactics alternated with others, for he was also described as a heretic, as disloyal and unpatriotic, seeking to impeach the validity of Spanish sovereignty in the Indies and to bring ruin on the national interests The missionary period of the life of Las Casas in America ended with his return to Spain in 1549 and the resignation of his episcopal see that followed in 1552. —  Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings
  • This persecution of science and genius lasted till the close of the seventeenth century If the metaphysician stood a chance of being burnt as a heretic, the natural philosopher was not in less jeopardy as a magician," is an observation of the same writer, which sums up the whole POVERTY OF THE LEARNED Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius: others find a hundred by-roads to her palace; there is but one open, and that a very indifferent one, for men of letters. —  Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
  • Our great poet thought this senseless declamation merited a serious refutation; perhaps he did not wish to appear despicable in the eyes of the ladies; and he would not be silent on the subject, he says, lest any one should consider him as the credulous Spaniards are made to believe by their priests, that a heretic is a kind of rhinoceros or a dog-headed monster. —  Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

infidel ·  traitor ·  sinner ·  heresy ·  atheist ·  apostate ·  thief ·  robber ·  rebel ·  renegade ·  hypocrite ·  tyrant

Used in the same contextWord Family

heretic:   heretics
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. Middle English heretik, from Old French heretique, from Late Latin haereticus, from Greek hairetikos, able to choose, factious, from hairetos, chosen, from haireisthai, to choose; see heresy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly heretick, early modern English also eretick; from Middle English heretik, eretik (cf. Anglo-Saxon eritic); Middle English also erite (from Old French herite, herete, erite) and erege, from Old French herege, erege = Provencal heretge, eretge = Spanish hereje = Portuguese herege, n., a heretic; Old French also heretique, French hérétique = Spanish herético = Portuguese heretico, adjective, = Italian eretico, adjective and n., from Late Latin hæreticus, adjective, of or belonging to heresy; as noun, a heretic, from Greek αί(ρετικός, able to choose, in ecclesiastical writers heretical, from αἱρεῖν, take, mid. αἱρεῖσθαι, choose: see heresy.
 

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/ˈhɛrɛtɪk/
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