atheist

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From French athéiste (athée + -iste), from Latin atheos, from Ancient Greek ἄθεος (atheos, “godless, without god”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + θεός (theos, “god”)..

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈeɪθiɪst/
  • Audio (US)
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  • Hyphenation: a‧the‧ist

[edit] Noun

atheist (plural atheists)

  1. (narrowly) A person who believes that no deities exist (especially, one who has no other religious belief).
    • 1571 October 20, Golding, Arthur, “The Epistle Dedicatory”, in Psalmes of Dauid and others, with M. John Caluin's Commentaries[1]:
      Ageine, the Atheistes, which say in their hartes there is no God; […]
    • 1953 November 3, Russell, Bertrand, “What is an Agnostic?”[2], Look: 
      An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not.
  2. (broadly) A person who does not believe that any deities exist, but who does not necessarily believe that no deities exist.
    • 1843, Holyoake, G. J., “A Reciprocal Dialogue”, The Oracle of Reason, Or, Philosophy Vindicated, volume 2, number 64, page 89: 
      Minister—Are you really an Atheist?
      Atheist—Yes.
      M.—Do you deny that there is a god?
      A.—No. I deny that there is sufficient reason to believe there is one. There may be a god, but I think it rather unlikely.
    • 2006 September 18, Dawkins, Richard, “The God Hypothesis”, in The God Delusion[3], edition 1st Am., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, LCC BL2775.3.D39 2006, ISBN 978-0618680009, LCCN 2006015506, OL 7606171M, page 51:
      Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’
  3. (loosely) A person who has no belief in any deities, including those with no concept of deities.
    • 1772, Good Sense without God: Or Freethoughts Opposed to Supernatural Ideas[4], London: W. Stewart, translation of Le Bon-Sens, ou, Idées Naturelles opposées aux Idées Surnaturelles by Paul Henry Thiry baron d'Holbach, published 2004, §30, page 21:
      All children are born Atheists; they have no idea of God. Are they then criminal on account of their ignorance?
    • 1910, The Vermont Digest 1789-1905[5], volume 2, Burlington: Free Press Printing Co:
      Atheists. One who does not believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, an atheist, is incompetent as a witness, being incapable of being sworn.
  4. (loosely, rare) A person who does not believe in a particular deity (or any deity in a particular pantheon), notwithstanding that they may believe in another deity.
    • 1840, Gibbon, Edward, chapter 16, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 1, edition new, page 183:
      Malice and pejudice concurred in representing the christians[sic] as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil magistrate.
    • 2002, Richard Dawkins on militant atheism[6]:
      An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
  5. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (archaic, pejorative) A person who shows disregard for moral obligation, or is immoral or wicked.
    • 1674, Milton, John, Paradiſe Loſt: A poem in twelve books, edition 2nd, London: S. Simmons, Book I. Lines 491-496.:
      ...To him no Temple ſtood
      Or Altar ſmok'd; yet who more oft than hee
      In Temples and at Altars, when the Prieſt
      Turns Atheiſt, as did Ely's ſons, who fill'd
      With luſt and violence the houſe of God.
    • 1866, Merivale, Charles, “Relapse of Christian Belief and Practice”, in The Conversion of the Northern Nations: The Boyle lectures for the year 1865[7], page 69:
      The sons of Eli were sons of Belial; full of all manner of lewdness and corruption; turning the service of God into a lie; turning themselves into heathens, infidels, atheists, even in the inner temple and sanctuary of the Most High.

[edit] Related terms

Related terms

[edit] Translations

a person who does not believe that any gods exist
a person who believes that no gods exist
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Translations to be checked

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Quotations

For more examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

[edit] See also

[edit] Adjective

atheist (comparative more atheist, superlative most atheist)

  1. Of or relating to atheists or atheism; atheistic.

[edit] Translations

relating to atheists — see atheistic

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] See also

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