1
as in atheistic
lacking religious emotions, principles, or practices
grew up in a nonreligious family
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in secular
not involving religion or religious matters
a display of nonreligious holiday decorations on municipally owned property
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nonreligious
In Forrest County, Mississippi, a lawsuit allowed inmates to receive nonreligious books.
—
James Verini, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are representing the plaintiffs, a group of both religious and nonreligious families who want to stop the law.
—Brieanna J. Frank, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
The laws have been challenged by families representing a variety of religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and clergy, in addition to nonreligious families.
—Arkansas Online, 21 Feb. 2026
The laws have been challenged by families representing a variety of religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, and clergy, in addition to nonreligious families.
—ABC News, 20 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nonreligious
James Verini, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are representing the plaintiffs, a group of both religious and nonreligious families who want to stop the law.
—Brieanna J. Frank, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
The laws have been challenged by families representing a variety of religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and clergy, in addition to nonreligious families.
—Arkansas Online, 21 Feb. 2026
The laws have been challenged by families representing a variety of religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, and clergy, in addition to nonreligious families.
—ABC News, 20 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nonreligious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonreligious
Adjective
-
His father's death during World War II influenced his pursuit of the ministry even amid the officially atheistic communist regime of the Soviet Union, according to his obituary on the OCU website.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
20 Mar. 2026
-
But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews.—
Jacqui Frost,
The Conversation,
11 Jan. 2024
Adjective
-
Seven Mountains has brought the language of spiritual warfare and demon-fighting into the mainstream of evangelicalism, through a network of pastors who view themselves as prophets and apostles engaged in a battle against evil secular forces.—
Eliza Griswold,
New Yorker,
22 June 2026
-
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, which resulted in the emergence of the messianic Gush Emunim movement and the planting of settlements in the West Bank, changes within Israeli society have alienated many American Jews, as well as secular, left-wing Israelis.—
Adam Louis-Klein,
The Atlantic,
18 June 2026
Adjective
-
This story is told by an unnamed narrator, an irreligious woman who has joined the nuns as a lay resident after her faith in environmental advocacy crumbled.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
-
And even the irreligious Bill de Blasio would join parishioners at the cathedral.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Though editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis (a Yorgos Lanthimos regular) cuts the film with brisk concision, there’s also a welcome temporal elasticity here — the sense that life can change in the blink of an eye, but also stall for undefined passages.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
19 June 2026
-
The researchers fed this millennium-long data into a computer model to determine how much stress has built up along the faults in that temporal window.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
18 June 2026
Adjective
-
What better way to distinguish God-fearing Americans from the godless communists of the Soviet Union than to put God on the money?—
David Williamson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 June 2026
-
This is why calls to restore power to government institutions ring hollow, and why the Democratic Party’s faith in institutions can appear naive and godless.—
Scott Warren,
The Atlantic,
13 June 2026
Adjective
-
Solstices are often associated with pagan religions and draw revelers of different faiths.—
Julia Gomez,
USA Today,
20 June 2026
-
There’s more than a tinge of folk horror to this lingering mystery, which brings to mind the 1973 genre landmark The Wicker Man, in which a puritanical police officer travels to a remote island community that’s reverted to old pagan ways.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
15 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nonreligious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonreligious. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
