scepticism

[skep-tuh-siz-uh m]

noun

skepticism.

Related formsan·ti·scep·ti·cism, nouno·ver·scep·ti·cism, noun

skepticism

or scep·ti·cism

[skep-tuh-siz-uhm]

noun

skeptical attitude or temper; doubt.
doubt or unbelief with regard to a religion, especially Christianity.
(initial capital letter) the doctrines or opinions of philosophical Skeptics; universal doubt.

Origin of skepticism

1640–50; < New Latin scepticismus, equivalent to Latin sceptic(us) skeptic + -ismus -ism

Related formsan·ti·skep·ti·cism, noun

Synonyms for skepticism

1. questioning, probing, testing. 2. disbelief, atheism, agnosticism.

Antonyms for skepticism

2. faith.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for scepticism

Contemporary Examples of scepticism

For all my scepticism, I had an unexpectedly romantic evening.
The Great Valentine’s Day Hangover
Emma Woolf
February 15, 2014

Historical Examples of scepticism

Scepticism was not only in his conscious thought but in the very tissues of his mind.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
There is no scepticism among the labourers now, I assure you.
City of Endless Night
Milo Hastings
Let scepticism assert what it may, such is the nature of man.
Leading Articles on Various Subjects
Hugh Miller
He goes beyond facts in his scepticism, as they did in their idealism.
Meno
Plato
These are the sort of proofs that no scepticism is strong enough to resist.
Tony Butler
Charles James Lever

Word Origin and History for scepticism

skepticism

also scepticism, 1640s, from skeptic + -ism. Specifically regarding Christian religion, from 1800.

scepticism in Culture

skepticism

In philosophy, the position that what cannot be proved by reason should not be believed. One of the main tasks of epistemology is to find an answer to the charge of some extreme skeptics that no knowledge is possible.