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Both need each other: The agnostic cannot be content to not know, but must be in search of the great truth of faith; the Catholic cannot be content to have faith, but must be in search of God all the time, and in the dialogue with others, a Catholic can learn more about God in a deeper fashion.
Pope Benedict XVI

Meaning of "agnostic" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD AGNOSTIC

Coined 1869 by T. H. Huxley from a-1 + gnostic.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF AGNOSTIC

agnostic  [æɡˈnɒstɪk] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF AGNOSTIC

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Agnostic can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES AGNOSTIC MEAN IN ENGLISH?

agnostic

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, as well as other religious and metaphysical claims—are unknown or unknowable. According to the philosopher William L. Rowe, in the popular sense, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of a deity or deities, whereas a theist and an atheist believe and disbelieve, respectively. Thomas Henry Huxley, an English biologist, coined the word agnostic in 1869. However, earlier thinkers have written works that promoted agnostic points of view. These thinkers include Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife, Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher was agnostic about the gods. The Nasadiya Sukta in the Rigveda is agnostic about the origin of the universe. Since the time that Huxley coined the term, many other thinkers have extensively written about agnosticism.

Definition of agnostic in the English dictionary

The definition of agnostic in the dictionary is a person who claims, with respect to any particular question, that the answer cannot be known with certainty. Other definition of agnostic is of or relating to agnostics.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH AGNOSTIC


acoustic
əˈkuːstɪk
acrostic
əˈkrɒstɪk
artistic
ɑːˈtɪstɪk
diagnostic
ˌdaɪəɡˈnɒstɪk
domestic
dəˈmɛstɪk
encaustic
ɪnˈkɒstɪk
fantastic
fænˈtæstɪk
geognostic
ˌdʒiːɒɡˈnɒstɪk
glasnostic
ɡlæsˈnɒstɪk
gnostic
ˈnɒstɪk
holistic
həʊˈlɪstɪk
paracrostic
ˌpærəˈkrɒstɪk
pharmacognostic
ˌfɑːməkɒɡˈnɒstɪk
plastic
ˈplæstɪk
prognostic
prɒɡˈnɒstɪk
psychognostic
ˌsaɪkɒɡˈnɒstɪk
pyrognostic
ˌpaɪrəɡˈnɒstɪk
stick
stɪk
telegnostic
ˌtɛləˈnɒstɪk
xenodiagnostic
ˌzɛnəʊˌdaɪəɡˈnɒstɪk

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE AGNOSTIC

agnathan
agnathous
agnatic
agnatical
agnatically
agnation
Agnes
Agnesi
Agnew
Agni
agnise
agnize
agnoiology
agnomen
agnomina
agnominal
Agnon
agnosia
agnosic
agnosticism

WORDS THAT END LIKE AGNOSTIC

anachronistic
ballistic
drastic
elastic
enthusiastic
futuristic
linguistic
logistic
majestic
mystic
optimistic
polycystic
realistic
rustic
sarcastic
scholastic
simplistic
statistic
stochastic
unrealistic

Synonyms and antonyms of agnostic in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «AGNOSTIC»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «agnostic» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of agnostic

Translation of «agnostic» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF AGNOSTIC

Find out the translation of agnostic to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of agnostic from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «agnostic» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

无关
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

agnóstico
570 millions of speakers

English

agnostic
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

नास्तिक
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الملحد
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

агностик
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

agnóstico
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

অজ্ঞানবাদী
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

agnostique
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Agnostik
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

agnostisch
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

不可知論者
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

불가지론
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Agnostik
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

thuyết bất khả tri
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

யதார்த்தவாதி
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

अज्ञेय शब्द
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

agnostik
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

agnostico
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

agnostyk
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

агностик
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

agnostic
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

αγνωστικιστής
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

agnostiese
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

agnostic
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

agnostiker
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of agnostic

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «AGNOSTIC»

The term «agnostic» is quite widely used and occupies the 36.211 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
83
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «agnostic» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of agnostic
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «agnostic».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «AGNOSTIC» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «agnostic» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «agnostic» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about agnostic

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «AGNOSTIC»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word agnostic.
1
Michelle Bachelet
As the old joke goes, I have all the sins together. I am a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic.
2
Pope Benedict XVI
Both need each other: The agnostic cannot be content to not know, but must be in search of the great truth of faith; the Catholic cannot be content to have faith, but must be in search of God all the time, and in the dialogue with others, a Catholic can learn more about God in a deeper fashion.
3
Stephen Colbert
Isn't an agnostic just an atheist without balls?
4
Clarence Darrow
I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.
5
Charles Darwin
The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.
6
Alan Dershowitz
The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.
7
Christopher Durang
I never graduated to being an atheist. I only graduated to being an agnostic.
8
Terry Eagleton
The conversion of agnostic High Tories to the Anglican church is always rather suspect. It seems too pat and predictable, too clearly a matter of politics rather than faith.
9
Alex Graves
'Proof' is a really cool pilot that I was lucky enough to read by Rob Braggin for TNT that's about a surgeon who's an agnostic, tough, grounded, scientific mind and she's hired by a Steve Jobs-type who's just been diagnosed with cancer to focus on near death experiences and what happens when you die.
10
Laura Z. Hobson
I grew up in an agnostic broad-minded family.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «AGNOSTIC»

Discover the use of agnostic in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to agnostic and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought
A biography that restores America's foremost 19th-century champion of reason and secularism to the still contested 21st-century public square.
Susan Jacoby, 2014
2
The Agnostic Reader
This reader includes selections of some of the most profound and pioneering discussions of agnosticism over the past two centuries.
S. T. Joshi, 2007
3
The Unknown God: Agnostic Essays
Kenny, a philosopher by profession, struggles with the intellectual problems of theism and the possibility of believing in god, especially in an intellectual climate dominated by Logical Positivism.
Anthony John Patrick Kenny, Anthony Kenny, 2005
4
Lapsed Agnostic
Irish Times columnist tells of his initial faith, his loss of it, and finally how he regained it.
John Waters, 2008
5
Christian Agnostic: The Doubt Jesus Requires His Followers ...
Could it be true that Jesus requires his followers to admit room for doubt in him? According to this book, yes. Lawson writes in Christian Agnostic, "Greatness, in order to be great, must have a great adversary.
Dustin Lawson, 2012
6
Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays
In these wide-ranging essays, Darrow attacks beliefs in the inerrancy of the Bible, the immortality of the soul, miracles, and heaven as being completely at odds with human experience and science.
Clarence Darrow, 1995
7
Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life
Rebellion Dogs is proud to announce that the recovery world now has a 21st century daily reflection...
Joe C., Joan Eyolfson Cadham, Amelia Chester, 2013
8
Spiritual Confessions of an Agnostic
C. M. Blakeson, an agnostic who grew up living a fundamentalist lifestyle in Kansas, explores both perspectives in this candid memoir.
C. M. Blakeson, 2013
9
The Agnostic Inquirer: Revelation from a Philosophical ...
The Agnostic Inquirer makes a clear, analytical claim that without these revelatory words, atheists and agnostics are missing a large part of the relevant database of the existence of God, while many theists are working with an impoverished ...
Sandra Lee Menssen, Thomas D. Sullivan, 2007
10
To Be an Agnostic: An Agnostic Approach to Life, Liberty, ...
This is not a book attacking anyone's beliefs; it is a book about obtaining knowledge wherever it may be and using that knowledge to obtain truth.
James Kirk Wall, 2009

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «AGNOSTIC»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term agnostic is used in the context of the following news items.
1
PayPal's acquisition of Xoom highlights its post eBay strategy
... Apple, Google, and now Samsung amongst others, is its growing focus on remaining technology agnostic and offering open stack solutions. «Firstpost, Jul 15»
2
The Media Column: How the chief executive of Hearst is reinventing …
“We are totally agnostic about platforms,” said Ms Jones. “We can interact with our readers in a more direct way and in vast numbers through ... «The Independent, Jul 15»
3
Can Cable Serve as All-in-One IoT Hubs? Alticast Thinks So
According to a recently published white paper, cable boxes have the potential to become protocol-agnostic Internet-of-Things (IoT) hubs and in ... «CIO Today, Jul 15»
4
Looks Like Reversal for Surna Inc (OTCMKTS:SRNA)
The Company says they represent a pure play on explosive growth in the cannabis industry, while being agnostic as to the escalating ... «MicroCap Daily, Jul 15»
5
THE REPUBLICAN PROBLEM WITH RELIGION
At the latest count, one in four Americans is an atheist, an agnostic, or unaffiliated with any religious group. Millennials, in particular, have no ... «Worcester Telegram, Jul 15»
6
Lake Street Recommendation on ShoreTel, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOR)
On October 19, 2010, the Company acquired Agito Networks, Inc. (Agito), which is a engaged in platform-agnostic enterprise mobility. «Insider Trading Report, Jul 15»
7
Art with a view
It is a message Turrell and Ando have translated into an immersive experience that even an agnostic can draw comfort from now. I do. The sky ... «AsiaOne, Jul 15»
8
A Message to Muslims About Jesus
Bart Ehrman, a religious agnostic historian has also said, “One of the most certain facts of history is that Jesus was crucified on orders of the ... «Christian Post, Jul 15»
9
Ping-Pong Diplomacy: A fascinating book on table tennis that trips …
Perhaps the influence of cricket-agnostic baseball-playing Americans is to be blamed. (Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief ... «Cricket Country, Jul 15»
10
Adkisson: Religious freedom vs. sworn duty
Being honest, fair, truthful, etc. are ideals that everyone from the most ardent supporters of religion to the agnostic or atheist can agree to. «The Sentinel, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Agnostic [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/agnostic>. Apr 2024 ».
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