any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination.
any system or codification of belief or of opinion.
an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief articles of Christian belief, as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian Creed.
the creed. Apostles' Creed.
a concise, formal statement of the essential articles of Christian belief, such as the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed
any statement or system of beliefs or principles
First recorded before 1000; Middle English crede, Old English crēda, from Latin crēdō “I believe”; see credo
Without reading the long document about the group's beliefs — its creed — he knew he didn't fit in, because he just couldn't bow to the 12-foot statue of a rabbit, no matter what it symbolized. A creed can be a formal doctrine, or system of beliefs, for a church or religious group, or it can be a philosophy, or personal set of beliefs. The origins of the word are in the Latin crēdō, "I believe," once specific to the Christian faith, but by the 17th century it was used for many different faiths. Companies, societies, and disciplines might also adopt a creed — as in a political creed, a national creed, or a management creed — that lays out a particular belief-system or way of doing things.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, defined America as dedicated to the Declaration’s creed that all men are created equal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026
That creed is certainly still part of the ideological atmosphere in this country, but multiple generations of Americans since the 1960s have grown up surrounded by contrary evidence.
From Salon • May 31, 2026
“It ain’t about no color, creed and race. ... It’s about the people.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2026
While Mr. Perl-Rosenthal skillfully charts the public philosophy of the orators, the story feels somewhat incomplete without lingering on the man who effectively codified their dissent into a national creed.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
I thought they would care less what color, creed, or race any of us were.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
