atheist

noun

athe·ist ˈā-thē-ist

Synonyms of atheist next

: a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods : one who subscribes to or advocates atheism

atheistic

ˌā-thē-ˈi-stik

adjective

or atheistical

ˌā-thē-ˈi-sti-kəl

atheistically

ˌā-thē-ˈi-sti-k(ə-)lē

adverb

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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 atheist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Mainstream Jewish institutions, in the staff’s view, have supplanted an expansive tradition with a narrow ethnic tribalism: Jews can be atheists or Buddhists or connoisseurs of pepperoni pizza, but Israel’s status as a Jewish democracy remains sacred. —

Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024 Communists, rationalists, atheists, and secularists are routinely targeted in India's own version of McCarthyism. —

Ananya Vajpeyi, Foreign Affairs, 3 Nov. 2015 One 2015 study found that, in the United States, negative attitudes toward vegans rivaled those toward atheists. —

Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, Vox, 8 Aug. 2024 He was raised nominally evangelical before identifying as an atheist, converting to Catholicism in 2019 and portraying himself as a fighter for Christianity. —

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 8 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for atheist

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'atheist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.