heathen
Americannoun
PLURAL
heathens, heathen-
(in historical contexts) a member of a people that do not acknowledge the God of the Bible; a pagan.
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Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive.
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a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.
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an irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized person.
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adjective
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(in historical contexts) of or relating to heathens; pagan.
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Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive.
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relating to a religion, person, or culture that is not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
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irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized.
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noun
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a person who does not acknowledge the God of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam; pagan
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an uncivilized or barbaric person
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(functioning as plural) heathens collectively
adjective
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irreligious; pagan
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unenlightened; uncivilized; barbaric
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of or relating to heathen peoples or their religious, moral, and other customs, practices, and beliefs
Related Words
See pagan.
Other Word Forms
- half-heathen adjective
- heathendom noun
- heathenhood noun
- heathenism noun
- heathenness noun
- heathenship noun
- nonheathen nounnonheathen, nonheathens
- unheathen adjective
Etymology
Origin of heathen
First recorded before 900; Middle English hethen, Old English hǣthen, akin to German Heide, heidnisch (adjective), Old Norse heithingi (noun), heithinn (adjective), Gothic haithno (noun); perhaps akin to heath
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“They told us our people, our parents, our grandparents didn’t have a way to be spiritual because we were all heathens.”
From New York Times
He recalled being forced to speak English and having been called “a heathen” because of his grandfather.
From Washington Post
In 1770, Spanish colonists gathered up the Esselen, whom they considered “neophytes and heathens,” said Tribal Chairman Tom Little Bear Nason, and forced them to convert to Catholicism.
From Los Angeles Times
Equally momentous that year was the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, an accelerant for the movement of international jihadists willing to martyr themselves in battle, this time against heathens from Eurasia.
From New York Times
“The crass, the new, the heathen, and the low/when I’m alone/pouring it into my home.”
From Washington Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
