polytheistic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- polytheistically adverb
Etymology
Origin of polytheistic
Explanation
If you're polytheistic, then you worship more than one god. The ancient Greeks had a polytheistic religion. These days, you're more likely to be part of a monotheistic religion (like Christianity, Judaism, or Islam), but there are many polytheistic faiths too — religions that worship a group of gods, often called a pantheon. Hinduism is polytheistic, and so were ancient Greek and Scandinavian religions. In polytheistic faiths, some gods will be associated with certain things, like how Thor is the god of thunder or Athena is the goddess of war.
Vocabulary lists containing polytheistic
World Religions
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Content Summary 1.6: Development of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Religions
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The Ancient Period, Before 600 BCE
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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.
Stasevska was born in 1984, the same year that Glass’ hypnotic, ritualistic opera, about an Egyptian pharaoh who dared to push monotheism onto his polytheistic culture, debuted in Stuttgart, Germany.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026
And although Hinduism is often thought of as having polytheistic elements, Ramaswamy has sought to portray it more simply as monotheistic.
From Slate • Aug. 29, 2023
Those beliefs have changed and developed for millennia, influenced by cultures, theologians and even the ancient polytheistic beliefs that came before the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, she said.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 29, 2023
The Kaaba was a center for polytheistic worship among pagan Arabs until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, when the Prophet Muhammad consecrated the site and inaugurated the Hajj.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 25, 2023
Hinduism had started off as a polytheistic religion, a set of tales about warrior gods and battles similar in many ways to the Greek mythos.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
