heretic
Americannoun
-
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
-
Roman Catholic Church. a baptized Roman Catholic who willfully and persistently rejects any article of faith.
-
anyone who does not conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle.
- Synonyms:
- freethinker, skeptic, dissenter
adjective
noun
-
RC Church a person who maintains beliefs contrary to the established teachings of the Church
-
a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing heretic
1984
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Much Ado About Nothing
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The Suffix -ic, Part 1
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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.
See Examples For:
It is set at a biographical turning point: 1147, when Hildegard’s transcribed visions were submitted to the pope, who would declare her either a prophet or a heretic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
And he doesn't necessarily hope to, he said, which "makes me a bit of a heretic."
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2024
“To pose these questions doesn’t mean being an enemy or a heretic but a practical” person, Meloni said in a 70-minute speech.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022
He was greeted as a heretic, a pariah.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2022
“Anthony, we seem to have found a courteous heretic, how strange and wonderful! We should sell him to a Ruh troupe; in a way he resembles a talking dog.”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
The most riveting parts of “Mobilize” are those that bring Mr. Sankar’s heretics to life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
In its statement, the Patriarchate of Georgia said that an icon could depict "real stories related to the life of the saint, including rulers and ordinary people, heretics and persecutors of the Christian faith".
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2024
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
He taught an essential lesson by asserting that religious and political people alike were divided between those who hunted for heretics and those who sought converts.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022
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
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.
