skeptic

or scep·tic

[ skep-tik ]
See synonyms for skeptic on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual.

  2. a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, plans, statements, or the character of others.

  1. a person who doubts the truth of a religion, especially Christianity, or of important elements of it.

  2. (initial capital letter)Philosophy.

    • a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.

    • any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility of real knowledge of any kind.

adjective
  1. pertaining to skeptics or skepticism; skeptical.

  2. (initial capital letter) pertaining to the Skeptics.

Origin of skeptic

1
1565–75; <Late Latin scepticus thoughtful, inquiring (in plural Scepticī the Skeptics) <Greek skeptikós, equivalent to sképt(esthai) to consider, examine (akin to skopeîn to look; see -scope) + -ikos-ic

synonym study For skeptic

3. See agnostic.

Other words for skeptic

Opposites for skeptic

Other words from skeptic

  • an·ti·skep·tic, noun
  • non·skep·tic, adjective, noun

Words that may be confused with skeptic

Words Nearby skeptic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use skeptic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for skeptic

skeptic

/ (ˈskɛptɪk) /


noun, adjective
  1. an archaic, and the usual US, spelling of sceptic

Derived forms of skeptic

  • skeptical, adjective
  • skeptically, adverb
  • skepticalness, noun
  • skepticism, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012