variants
also heretic
as in dissident
deviating from commonly accepted beliefs or practices
the belief that women should be allowed to have careers outside the home was once considered heretical
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of heretical
Both of them viewed Christianity and Judaism as so alike that each faith might view the other as a heretical version of its own teachings.
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Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 27 Oct. 2024
The Gulf states wanted nothing to do with Obama’s ideas of sharing the region with Iran and even less to do with his heretical ideas about embracing democracy and the Arab Spring uprisings.
—Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 26 July 2022
The weeks leading up to Imbrie’s killing saw a spate of violent incidents against the Baha’i, a minority religious group viewed as a heretical sect by the majority Shiite Muslim population.
—Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024
Just the idea of extinction, writes Taylor, was heretical.
—Brenda Wineapple, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heretical 
Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 27 Oct. 2024
The Gulf states wanted nothing to do with Obama’s ideas of sharing the region with Iran and even less to do with his heretical ideas about embracing democracy and the Arab Spring uprisings.
—Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 26 July 2022
The weeks leading up to Imbrie’s killing saw a spate of violent incidents against the Baha’i, a minority religious group viewed as a heretical sect by the majority Shiite Muslim population.
—Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024
Just the idea of extinction, writes Taylor, was heretical.
—Brenda Wineapple, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heretical
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretical
Adjective
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In 2022, four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the authorities shut down the group International Memorial, which had been founded in the late ’80s by the former dissident Andrei Sakharov and others to monitor political imprisonment and preserve memories of Stalinist terror.Leon Aron, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2024
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The group’s incendiary music forces them to deal with police harassment, political threats and dissident republican attacks, all while navigating personal struggles and backlash from society at large.Travis Bean, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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In the dissenting view, the star collapses to the edge of the event horizon and then hovers there, or rebounds and explodes.Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, 26 Feb. 2015
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The document runs to more than a hundred and fifty pages, and for each question there are affirmative and dissenting studies, as well as some that indicate mixed results.The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 3 June 2022
Adjective
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This prevents Adams from showing the disarming quality that Helena Bonham Carter brought to the eccentric mother figure in the 2010 Toast, an unconventional comic biography of chef Nigel Slater’s maternal fixation.Armond White, National Review, 13 Dec. 2024
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Firefighters in Norwalk, Connecticut rescued a familiar yet unconventional character after Santa Claus got stuck 60 feet above ground.Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions NERD’s out-there pursuit was low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR)—still popularly known as cold fusion.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Nov. 2024
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There was a lot of performance art – really weird, interesting, out-there performance theaters were going.Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press, 21 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near heretical
Cite this Entry
“Heretical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretical. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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