heretic

American  

[her-i-tik, her-i-tik, huh-ret-ik] / ˈhɛr ɪ tɪk, ˈhɛr ɪ tɪk, həˈrɛt ɪk /

noun

• heretics
  plural

1. a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by their church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.

   Synonyms:

   Protestant, recreant, backslider, apostate

2. Roman Catholic Church. a baptized Roman Catholic who willfully and persistently rejects any article of faith.

3. anyone who does not conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle.

   Synonyms:

   freethinker, skeptic, dissenter

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adjective

1. heretical.

heretic British  

/ ˈhɛrətɪk, hɪˈrɛtɪkəl /

noun

1. RC Church a person who maintains beliefs contrary to the established teachings of the Church

2. a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field

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heretic Cultural  

1. One who challenges the doctrines of an established church (see also established church). Martin Luther was proclaimed a heretic for rejecting many of the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• heretical
  adjective
• semiheretic
  adjective
• heretically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• heretics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of heretic

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English heretik from Middle French heretique from Late Latin haereticus from Greek hairetikós “able to choose” ( Late Greek: “heretical”), equivalent to hairet(ós) “that may be taken” (verbal adjective of haireîn “to choose”) + -ikos -ic

Explanation

If your friend became interested in Hinduism, with its many gods and rituals, her Catholic mother might be worried that her daughter was a heretic, or a person whose religious beliefs are in contrast to the fundamental beliefs of her church. The noun heretic is mostly used in a religious context to talk about someone whose actions or beliefs act against the laws, rules, or beliefs of some specific religion. However, heretic can also be used in a non-religious way to mean "someone whose ideas go against the norm." Say your regular hangout is a cowboy honky-tonk and most of your friends play in country bands; you might be considered a heretic if you announced that your favorite kind of music is actually opera.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heretic heretics

This was a genius-level insight that caused Thiel to be hounded out of San Francisco as a heretic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025

And he doesn't necessarily hope to, he said, which "makes me a bit of a heretic."

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024

She told legislators last week that questioning Europe doesn’t make anyone “an enemy or a heretic, but a pragmatist, who does not fear saying when something doesn’t work properly.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022

“I am a known heretic in these parts because I mow the lawn on Sundays,” one resident proclaims.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2022

I sat there feeling myself a heretic, believing only in this one-shot life and the body.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Mr. Persico mentions that Martin Luther hated Jews and persecuted heretics, and he acknowledges that Locke excluded Catholics and atheists from toleration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

Although the leaders of many anticlerical organizations were deemed heretics and suppressed by church leaders, they nevertheless laid the groundwork for the sixteenth-century religious revolution known as the Protestant Reformation.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

When we left the room, Coleman muttered, "The problem is they do not believe in heretics."

From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2022

But while Dante walked through a rain of fire, dodging heretics, we ambled through dappled wood of chestnut and tractor-marked dirt tracks, hugging fields and mountain ridges.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021

All night, I slept with Gwenforte curled beside me, and my sleep was deeper than any I had had since my disaster with the heretics in Italy.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Related Words

• dissenter
• schismatic