pagan

1 of 2

noun

pa·​gan ˈpā-gən 

plural pagans

1

: a person who practices a contemporary form of paganism (such as Wicca) : neo-pagan

… thousands of people … flock to the iconic prehistoric stone monument of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southwestern England to celebrate the solstice in a tradition that has been observed for millennia and still carries spiritual importance for modern-day pagans.

—Aristos Georgiou

Greece's pagans have found an unlikely champion in James O'Dell, a Croydon-born chartered surveyor who gave up his job to "serve the gods". Through the internet he has brought Apollo-loving pagans together in Britain …

—Helena Smith

2

a

old fashioned + often offensive : a person who is not religious or whose religion is not Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity : heathen

b

history : a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome or Greece)

We are not ancient Greek pagans who saw death as the gateway to Hades.

—Christopher Howse

… responses that reveal how [ancient] Roman pagans responded to the withdrawal of administrative support for traditional Roman religion.

—R. E. Winn

… he added, with the air of a man who believed what he was telling, "but the first that went astray here was a pagan of old Rome, who hid himself in order to spy out and betray the blessed saints … "

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

3

literary : one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : a nonreligious hedonistic person

He himself is a pagan of the decadence. He … prefers a well-ordered dinner to a dissertation on the immortality of the soul.

—Charles Dudley Warner

paganish

ˈpā-gə-nish 

adjective

pagan

2 of 2

adjective

: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of pagans

pagan customs/beliefs

Reuse of Roman objects was not uncommon during the Middle Ages, although the discovery of ancient sculpture was usually a momentous event, and pagan images in particular provoked fearful responses.

—Peter Scott Brown

In addition to moon-rituals, wiccans celebrate pagan seasonal holidays …

—Scott McMurray

Did you know?

The Uses and Origins of Heathen and Pagan

Heathen is a dated term used primarily of someone who is not religious, or whose religion is not Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity. It is also sometimes used disapprovingly of someone who is not cultured; this use is also dated.

In current use, pagan is most commonly used of someone who practices a contemporary form of paganism, such as Wicca, making the word synonymous with neo-pagan. But pagan also has meanings identical to those of heathen; in those uses it too is dated. Additionally, pagan has literary use referring to a nonreligious person who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods.

The origins of heathen and pagan are semantically similar. Heathen likely comes from a term for a country inhabitant—in particular, a “heath dweller.” The Latin source of pagan, paganus, originally meant “country dweller” or “civilian;” it was used at the end of the Roman Empire to refer to people who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, and especially to those who worshiped multiple deities. It’s believed that the religious meanings of paganus developed either from the enduring non-Christian religious practices of those who lived far from the Roman cities where Christianity was more quickly adopted, or from the fact that early Christians referred to themselves as “soldiers of Christ,” making nonbelievers “civilians.”

Synonyms

Noun

• gentile
• heathen
• idolater
• idolator

Examples of pagan in a Sentence

Noun

the temple was built by pagans in the 4th century as a place to worship their idols

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Church officials decided to recognize Dec. 25 as his birthday, probably to coincide with the date of pagan festivals in an attempt to get pagans to accept Christianity as the official religion. —Atlanta Life, ajc, 10 Nov. 2017

While plague stalks the land, paranoid peasants swap cautionary folk tales about evil spirits, pagans, Jews and other outsiders. —Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2017

Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of England and established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans. —Jonah Goldberg, National Review, 27 Sep. 2017

Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of Englandand established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans. —Jonah Goldberg, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 Sep. 2017

Lance Wallnau, a Christian author, claimed God spoke to him and showed him that Trump was like King Cyrus, who followed God’s will despite being a pagan. —Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2017

To do Trumpzilla justice, the film should be blustery, spectacular, gold-garish, and neo-pagan, a Circus Maximus Cecil B. DeMille might have whipped up with his riding crop after a fever dream. —James Wolcott, HWD, 19 June 2017

Adjective

Defense attorneys for Allen have argued authorities arrested the wrong person and claimed that Odinism, a pagan Norse religion that has been linked to White supremacist groups, could be a theory connected to the killings, court documents show. —Nicole Chavez, CNN, 18 Oct. 2024

In a memorandum released last year, Allen's attorneys outlined an alternate theory of the girls' killings, saying evidence found at the scene mimicked rituals from a pagan Norse religion called Odinism. —Jenny Porter Tilley, The Indianapolis Star, 14 Oct. 2024

There’s a lot of folklore, superstition and myth — pagan elements really, that are folded into how people actually practice religion in Ireland. —Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Overshadowing the square, the Gothic St. Rumbold’s Cathedral was built between 1200 and 1520 to house the remains of local saint Rumbold, who, in the sixth century, converted pagan German tribes to Christianity. —Barbara Noe Kennedy, Travel + Leisure, 18 June 2024

Baldwin and Rozzi had alleged that members of Odinism, a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists, are the real killers who ritually sacrificed the teens ― a theory that Allen's new defense team believes has merit. —The Indianapolis Star, 12 Jan. 2024

The Prophet Muhammad, having conquered all of Arabia in 630, clearing Mecca of its pagan idols in the process, went back two years later on a triumphant pilgrimage. —Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023

Freud died the next day, surrounded by his pagan gods. —Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 23 June 2023

Of having been blessed, in the most pagan sense of that term. —Amia Srinivasan, The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Late Latin paganus, from Latin, civilian, country dweller, from pagus country district; akin to Latin pangere to fix — more at pact

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing pagan

• neo-pagan

Kids Definition

pagan

noun

pa·​gan ˈpā-gən 

1

: a person who does not know about or worship the God of the Bible

2

: a person who is not religious

pagan adjective

paganism

-gə-ˌniz-əm

noun

Etymology

Noun

Middle English pagan "heathen," from Latin paganus (same meaning), from earlier paganus "person who lives in a rural area," from pagus "village, district"

Word Origin

In ancient Rome a person living in a rural area or village was called paganus, a word derived from the Latin noun pagus, meaning "village, district." In time paganus came to refer to a civilian as opposed to a soldier. When Christianity became generally accepted in the towns and cities of the empire, paganus was used to refer to a villager who continued to worship the old gods. Christians used the term for anyone not of their faith or of the Jewish faith. The word in Old English for such a person was what is now heathen. In the 14th century, English borrowed the Latin paganus as pagan, and used it with the same meaning. In time both heathen and pagan also took on the meaning of "a person having no religion."