agnostic

1 of 2

noun

ag·​nos·​tic ag-ˈnä-stik 

əg-

1

: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable

broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

2

: a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something

political agnostics

agnostic

2 of 2

adjective

1

: of, relating to, or being an agnostic : involving or characterized by agnosticism

2

: noncommittal, undogmatic

3

a

: not preferring a particular device or system

—usually used after a noun

"Children are platform agnostic," said Alice Cahn, vice-president of development for Cartoon Network. "If you want to look foolish with a preschooler, say, 'Sorry, you can't watch that. It's not on.' It's TiVoed, it's online, it's on video on demand."

—Business Wire

b

: designed to be compatible with different devices (such as computers or smartphones) or operating systems

—usually used after a noun

content that is OS agnostic

—often used in combination

The application is platform-agnostic, so it can work on your tablet or cell phone.

Did you know?

How Agnostic Differs From Atheist

Atheist and agnostic appear in the same contexts but are distinct in meaning. Atheist refers to someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods. Agnostic has two relevant meanings: it can refer to someone who holds the view that any ultimate reality, such as God, is unknown and probably unknowable, or it can refer to someone who is not committed to believing in either the existence or nonexistence of God or a god.

Agnostic first appeared in print in 1869 (it was possibly coined by the English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley), and was formed from the Greek agnōstos, meaning "unknown, unknowable." Atheist came to English from the French athéisme. Although both words share the prefix a-, meaning "without," the main body of each word is quite different. Agnostic ultimately comes from the Greek root gignōskein, meaning "know" (also the source of such words as know and prognosis). Atheist shares the root theo, meaning "god," with such words as theology and theism.

Examples of agnostic in a Sentence

Noun

Even polytheists … were in fact tolerated, as Islamic rule spread to most of India. Only the total unbeliever—the agnostic or atheist—was beyond the pale of tolerance … —Bernard Lewis, Islam in History, 1993

Supporters of education vouchers … will love what Norman Macrae has to say on the subject. Teachers' unions and other opponents of vouchers … will deplore it. Voucher agnostics (and I include myself) might find that the proposal not only answers most doubts but also makes sense on issues they've never much thought about. —William Raspberry, Springfield (Massachusetts) Union, 14 Aug. 1987

I call myself an agnostic. I do not really have any faith, any coherent religious faith, and yet the one thing in my life that I feel passionate and evangelical about is poetry. —Maxine Kumin, "An Interview at Interlochen," 1977, in To Make a Prairie,  1979

Adjective

Cladistics classifies organisms in nested hierarchies based exclusively on their order of branching. (I should say that I am quite agnostic about this theory, so I do not write as a shill.) —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, March 1995

The composition comes alive in stanzas V and VI. This is the dark night. I hoped my readers would remember John of the Cross's poem. My night is not gracious, but secular, puritan, and agnostic. An existentialist night. —Robert Lowell, Collected Prose, 1987

… I thought that by the time I was past thirty-five—at the very least agnostic and surely swept by the bleak winds of existentialism—I had abandoned the Presbyterian precepts of my childhood. —William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, 1982

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

An additional surprising insight shown above and going beyond the 7-out-of-10 statistic is that even atheists purportedly believe in angels (well, admittedly just a minuscule 2%) and that a sizable portion of agnostics do (coming in at a whopping 25% or one-quarter). —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024

Black Non-Believers Often Conceal Their Beliefs While Networking Sadly, Black atheists and agnostics feel pressure to hide their secularism in professional settings in order to maintain relationships. —Maya Richard-Craven, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024

Adjective

Our role in this is to be agnostic on the policies, but to weigh in on what is operationally feasible. —Tax Notes Staff, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

According to a report from The Pew Center For Research, only 3% of African-American people identified as atheist or agnostic in 2021. —Maya Richard-Craven, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Greek ágnōstos "unknown, unknowable" (from a- a- entry 2 + gnōstós "known," variant of gnōtós, verbal adjective of gignṓskein "to know entry 1") + -ic entry 2 (after gnostic)

Adjective

derivative of agnostic entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1870, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

agnostic

noun

ag·​nos·​tic

ag-ˈnäs-tik,

əg-

: a person who believes that whether God exists is not known and probably cannot be known

agnostic adjective

agnosticism

-ˈnäs-tə-ˌsiz-əm

noun

Etymology

Noun

from Greek agnōstos "unknown," from a- "not" and gnōstos "known"