doctrinaire

American  

[dok-truh-nair] / ˈdɒk trəˈnɛər /

noun

1. a person who tries to apply some doctrine or theory without sufficient regard for practical considerations; an impractical theorist.

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adjective

1. dogmatic about others' acceptance of one's ideas; fanatical.

   a doctrinaire preacher.

   Synonyms:

   unyielding, inflexible, uncompromising, authoritarian

   Antonyms:

   flexible, reasonable

2. merely theoretical; impractical.

3. of, relating to, or characteristic of a doctrinaire.

doctrinaire British  

/ ˌdɒktrɪˈnɛə /

adjective

1. stubbornly insistent on the observation of the niceties of a theory, esp without regard to practicality, suitability, etc

2. theoretical; impractical

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noun

1. a person who stubbornly attempts to apply a theory without regard to practical difficulties

Other Word Forms

• doctrinairism
  noun
• doctrinarian
  noun
• nondoctrinaire
  adjective
• overdoctrinaire
  adjective
• undoctrinaire
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of doctrinaire

From French, dating back to 1810–20; see origin at doctrine, -aire

Explanation

You've doubtless met someone doctrinaire at some point. You know them by their complete unwillingness to accept any belief other than their own. If you're familiar with the noun "doctrine" — a formal idea or system of belief — you'll have no problem with the adjective doctrinaire. It's a just a way of describing a person or group of people who are set in their ways. Parents can start out doctrinaire, but children soon force them to be flexible in how they bring them up.

Example Sentences

“Despite all evidence to the contrary, Marshall still believed,” in Mr. Dikötter’s words, that the Communists “were not doctrinaire ideologists, but merely rural reformers who could help shape a democratic China.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

"The modernism that was around before the 1980s was very grey, restrictive, utilitarian and quite doctrinaire really," Farrell said.

From BBC • Sep. 29, 2025

Other judges are not so clinical or doctrinaire about it.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2024

For all the bipartisan praise, Mrs. Korologos was a loyal if not doctrinaire Reaganite, following the legacy of her predecessor, Bill Brock, another moderate former senator from Tennessee.

From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2023

Something not unlike this, though scarcely so simply and directly doctrinaire, is familiar to us in some English psychology, notably James Mill's41.

From Hegel's Philosophy of Mind by Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich