Antonyms for agnostic
| Grammar : Noun |
| Spell : ag-nos-tik |
| Phonetic Transcription : ægˈnɒs tɪk |
Definition of agnostic
Origin :- 1870, "one who professes that the existence of a First Cause and the essential nature of things are not and cannot be known" [Klein]; coined by T.H. Huxley (1825-1895), supposedly in September 1869, from Greek agnostos "unknown, unknowable," from a- "not" + gnostos "(to be) known" (see gnostic). Sometimes said to be a reference to Paul's mention of the altar to "the Unknown God," but according to Huxley it was coined with reference to the early Church movement known as Gnosticism (see Gnostic).
- I ... invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic,' ... antithetic to the 'Gnostic' of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. [T.H. Huxley, "Science and Christian Tradition," 1889]
- The adjective is first recorded 1870.
- noun person unsure that god exists
- I saw, too, that from a certain point of view the stand of the agnostic is a right one.
- Extract from : « The Conquest of Fear » by Basil King
- His wife could not help the sudden thought, "But if we had had an infidel or agnostic son?"
- Extract from : « The Coryston Family » by Mrs. Humphry Ward
- He may remain a Monist, and nothing more; in which case he is an agnostic.
- Extract from : « Mind and Motion and Monism » by George John Romanes
- In the sense which would have made belief a solace and relief, I was agnostic.
- Extract from : « A Daughter of the Middle Border » by Hamlin Garland
- But we are human souls, after all; and no one is an agnostic for the fun of it.
- Extract from : « Brother Copas » by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
- The world is not the same to the Christian theist and to the agnostic.
- Extract from : « Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism » by F. V. N. Painter
- I have been sneered at as a "spiritualist," a "spook hunter," an "agnostic."
- Extract from : « The Return of Peter Grimm » by David Belasco
- I am not saying Pendleton did not have, you understand; I am an agnostic on that subject.
- Extract from : « A Circuit Rider's Wife » by Corra Harris
- He was an agnostic, but because he had been reared in the church he felt that he might as well be married in it.
- Extract from : « Jennie Gerhardt » by Theodore Dreiser
- He had by this time become what would now be called an agnostic.
- Extract from : « The English Utilitarians, Volume II (of 3) » by Leslie Stephen
Synonyms for agnostic
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019