Nicene Creed
Americannoun
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a formal statement of the chief tenets of Christian belief, adopted by the first Nicene Council.
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a later creed of closely similar form Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, or Constantinopolitan Creed referred, perhaps erroneously, to the Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381), received universally in the Eastern Church and, with an addition introduced in the 6th century a.d., accepted generally throughout western Christendom.
noun
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the formal summary of Christian beliefs promulgated at the first council of Nicaea in 325 ad
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a longer formulation of Christian beliefs authorized at the council of Constantinople in 381, and now used in most Christian liturgies
Etymology
Origin of Nicene Creed
First recorded in 1550–60
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.
Theodosius was the Christian Roman emperor who embraced the Nicene Creed as the religion of empire in the late fourth century, conducting a single-minded suppression of paganism in the lands over which he ruled.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
In 325 AD, among other key decisions, more than 200 bishops at the council affirmed the belief that Jesus was the son of God, eventually leading to what is known as the Nicene Creed.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025
They adopted the Nicene Creed, a statement of dogma that declared Jesus was “begotten, not made” and was “consubstantial” with God, expressly embracing his divinity.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
Faculty members hired by Calvin University must sign a document saying their beliefs align with a set of historical Christian creeds and confessions, such as the Nicene Creed and the Heidelberg Catechism.
From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022
The “filioque” clause, which formed no part of the Nicene Creed, nor of its Constantinopolitan recension, had been formally adopted at the Third Council of Toledo in 589 and at subsequent Spanish councils.
From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, Cuthbert
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.
