heterodoxy
Americannoun
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heterodoxies
plural
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heterodox state or quality.
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a heterodox opinion, view, etc.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of heterodoxy
From the Greek word heterodoxía, dating back to 1645–55. See heterodox, -y 3
Explanation
If your civics teacher were to teach that it's best if only the people with luxury cars vote in an election, that teacher would quickly be accused of heterodoxy for teaching something quite different from the accepted or correct view. People are usually only accused of heterodoxy if they have influence or declare their views in an official capacity. But sometimes, if you have to subscribe to certain views in order to belong to an organization, your heterodoxy on any of those topics will be enough to keep you out whether you have any influence or not. Heterodoxy comes from the Greek word heterodoxia, from hetero-, meaning "different" or "other," and doxa, meaning "opinion."
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:
“This is a worldwide, but certainly American, trend toward heterodoxy — toward individuals cooking up their own spiritual or religious stew and cooking it up their way,” Burklo said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2019
As a sentence about America, it has it all: heterodoxy, entrepreneurialism, cultural appropriation, sexual repression, and a town that could have been named by the Protestant work ethic made sentient.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 24, 2019
"I'm hearing, 'if you don't believe her claim, you are re-victimising her'. Since scepticism of a claim is heterodoxy, people will accept a claim either blindly or just to avoid being ostracised."
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2018
Kanye has long worked with songwriters — something that, because it’s perceived as heterodoxy, is rarely discussed openly.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2018
As a means of adjusting the mores through the course of centuries, interpretation succeeded in gradually changing popular ideas, where open and revolutionary heterodoxy would have failed.
From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger
But there are all sorts of complexities and heterodoxies that are suffocated by uncomplicated embrace.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2022
To some degree, “populism” is another word for heterodoxies that seem doomed to fail.
From Economist ● Jul. 20, 2017
I stayed because I was incredibly curious and thought at least I could work on my novel, a Western set in “the American subconscious,” a Jungian wonderland of heterodoxies.
From Salon ● May 31, 2015
Who will be courageous enough to confront the public with such brave heterodoxies as “Not all cultures are equally conducive to human flourishing”? The Intellectual Dark Web, that’s who.
From Slate
The champions of a hundred orthodoxies and heterodoxies chattered fiercely behind their bulwarks of texts.
From London Days A Book of Reminiscences by Arthur Warren
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.
