skeptic

American  

[skep-tik] / ˈskɛp tɪk /

Or sceptic

noun

1. a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual.

2. a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, plans, statements, or the character of others.

3. a person who doubts the truth of a religion, especially Christianity, or of important elements of it.

   Synonyms:

   doubter

   Antonyms:

   believer

4. (initial capital letter)

   1. a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.

   2. any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility of real knowledge of any kind.

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adjective

1. pertaining to skeptics or skepticism; skeptical.

2. (initial capital letter) pertaining to the Skeptics.

skeptic British  

/ ˈskɛptɪk /

noun

1. an archaic, and the usual US, spelling of sceptic

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Related Words

See agnostic.

Other Word Forms

• antiskeptic noun
• nonskeptic adjective
• skeptical adjective
• skeptically adverb
• skepticalness noun
• skepticism noun

Etymology

Origin of skeptic

1565–75; < Late Latin scepticus thoughtful, inquiring (in plural Scepticī the Skeptics) < Greek skeptikós, equivalent to sképt ( esthai ) to consider, examine (akin to skopeîn to look; -scope ) + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Before becoming the head of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has been a longtime vaccine skeptic and served as the head of Children’s Health Defense.

From Salon

Here’s how Disney went from AI skeptic to investor.

From The Wall Street Journal

Stories multiply like toadstools in forest loam in the fiction of Thomas Pynchon, America’s most devout skeptic of the narrative urge, yet also one of its greatest exponents.

From The Wall Street Journal

Only time will tell which scenario plays out, but for now, holiday cheer from a market skeptic is welcome.

From Barron's

While a handful of recent studies have found homes with sparse vegetation in zone zero were more likely to survive fires, skeptics say it does not yet amount to a scientific consensus.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agnostic
• cynic
• dissenter
• doubter
• pessimist
• questioner