Definitions

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

  • adjective Disagreeing, as in opinion or belief.
  • noun One who disagrees; a dissenter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Different; at variance.
  • Dissenting; not conforming; specifically, dissenting from an established church.
  • noun One who differs or dissents from others in regard to anything; especially, an opponent of or dissenter from a prevailing opinion, method, etc.
  • noun Specifically— A dissenter; one who separates from an established religion.
  • noun Especially— Under the old elective monarchy of Poland, when the established church was Roman Catholic, a Lutheran, Calvinist, Arminian, or adherent of the Greek Church, who was allowed the free exercise of his faith.

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

  • noun (Eccl.) One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.
  • adjective No agreeing; dissenting; discordant; different.

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

  • adjective In a manner that disagrees; dissenting; discordant; different.
  • noun A person who formally opposes the current political structure, opposes the political group in power, opposes the policies of the political group in power, or opposes current laws.
  • noun ecclesiastical One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.

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

  • adjective disagreeing, especially with a majority
  • noun a person who dissents from some established policy
  • adjective characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards

Etymologies

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

[Latin dissidēns, dissident-, present participle of dissidēre, to disagree : dis-, apart; see dis– + sedēre, to sit; see sed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin dissidens, -entis, present participle of dissidere ("to sit apart, to disagree"); dis- + sedere to sit.

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