Definitions

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

  • noun The condition or quality of being heterodox.
  • noun A heterodox opinion or doctrine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality or state of being heterodox: as, the heterodoxy of a doctrine, book, or person.
  • noun A heterodox belief or doctrine; a departure from an established standard or principle; a heresy.

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

  • noun An opinion or doctrine, or a system of doctrines, contrary to some established standard of faith, as the Scriptures, the creed or standards of a church, etc.; heresy.

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

  • noun The quality of being heterodox.
  • noun A heterodox belief, creed, or teaching.

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

  • noun the quality of being unorthodox
  • noun any opinions or doctrines at variance with the official or orthodox position

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἑτεροδοξία.

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Examples

  • As a matter of fact, the orthodoxy of these Churches is what we call heterodoxy, since it rejects the Papal Infallibility, and the Papal Supremacy, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that of Purgatory, etc.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • Note 69: In our own time, no scientific or philosophical consensus exists on this question; the resulting heterodoxy is too complex to summarize briefly here.

    Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Countercultural Communities, 1965–83 2007

  • Some church historians say Galileo's actions should be classified as heterodoxy, which is less severe than heresy.

    Galileo Still Sends Church Spinning 2008

  • I'll be using the word heterodoxy in future, even though I don't know what it means.

    ‘Creationist’ Scientist To Be Burnt Alive Push Jelly 2008

  • Good Men: How Catholic Seminaries Turned Away Two Generations of Vocations From the Priesthood, "Michael S. Rose examines the destructive effect of what he terms heterodoxy on seminarians struggling to absorb and adhere to the ancient doctrines of the church, handed down from the Apostles for 2,000 years.

    Stand Firm 2009

  • It seemed to me that Hayes’ definition of heterodoxy is “significant methodological or axiomatic disagreement with mainstream economists, so long as that disagreement has left-wing implications.”

    Can We Call Them “Neoclassical Deniers”? 2007

  • I'll admit to resorting to the dictionary to comprehend the meaning of the word 'heterodoxy'.

    NRCC Head At A Loss For Spin On Mississippi Race 2009

  • I was beginning to think that you were linking "heterodoxy" with sexuality, which is hardly the whole of it.

    Blonde and loving it! Terry Nelson 2006

  • And I think Xiaolongu's probably right that "heterodoxy" would likely be a more appropriate term than "paganism", because of the specific historical weight of "paganism" as an epithet used from within Christianity.

    languagehat.com: CHINESE 'JEW.' 2005

  • Instead of dogmatic controversy dying away it is becoming more general; "heterodoxy" is being hunted with a keener zest than for years, and doctrinal disputation has become well-nigh as virulent as the polemics of partisan politics.

    The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 1. 1898

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