Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who believes in the existence of a personal God, but in few or none of the more special doctrines of the Christian religion; one who holds to some of the more general propositions of the Christian faith concerning the Deity, but denies revelation and the authority of the church.
  • noun One who holds the opinion that there is a God, but no divine providence governing the affairs of men; one who holds that, God is not only distinct from the world, but also separated from it.
  • noun Synonyms Atheist, Skeptic, etc. See infidel.

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

  • noun One who believes in the existence of a God, but denies revealed religion; a freethinker.

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

  • noun A person who believes in deism.
  • adjective Of or relating to deism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to deism
  • noun a person who believes that God created the universe and then abandoned it

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French deiste, from New Latin deista, from Latin Deus ("God") + -ista ("-ist").

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Examples

  • The confusion would be understandable given that the two terms 'derivations differ merely in that deist comes from the Latin deus and theist from the Greek theos, and that both mean "god".

    New Statesman 2009

  • The confusion would be understandable given that the two terms 'derivations differ merely in that deist comes from the Latin deus and theist from the Greek theos, and that both mean "god".

    New Statesman 2009

  • The person who believes in a transcendental theology alone, is termed a deist; he who acknowledges the possibility of a natural theology also, a theist.

    The Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1764

  • Have you got a source for him self-identifying as a deist later in life?

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Collins would seem to be a deist, which is very different from being a Christian, as he claims to be.

    unknown title 2009

  • Collins would seem to be a deist, which is very different from being a Christian, as he claims to be.

    unknown title 2009

  • His beliefs started to change and fade during the Beagle voyage, and for many years -- including the years of writing and publishing the Origin -- he was some kind of deist, accepting a God who set things in motion and who did not then interfere.

    Michael Ruse: Darwin And Atheism Michael Ruse 2011

  • His beliefs started to change and fade during the Beagle voyage, and for many years -- including the years of writing and publishing the Origin -- he was some kind of deist, accepting a God who set things in motion and who did not then interfere.

    Michael Ruse: Darwin And Atheism Michael Ruse 2011

  • Now, I would suggest to you that you re-read the dictionary definition of a "deist", and then tell me that you, if you can, as a thinking person, tell me that the description of the incident in Washington's letter even remotely resembles any "indifference" on the part of God.

    Texas Faith: How did our civil debate become so uncivil? | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2009

  • I guess I'm essentially a kind of deist of some kind as well.

    There Is A God James F. McGrath 2007

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