heathenism
English
Etymology
From heathen + -ism, coined in the 17th century in place of the then-obsolete heathendom. First attested in Francis Bacon's Of the advancement of learning (1605), II. xiv. §9: "The heresy of the Anthropomorphites [...] and the opinion of Epicurus, answerable to the same in heathenism, who supposed the gods to be in human shape" (OED).
Noun
heathenism (countable and uncountable, plural heathenisms)
- paganism, heathendom
- 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality, volume 2, page 284:
- A woman's love is essentially lonely and spiritual in its nature—feeding on fancy, rather than hope—or like that fairy flower of the East, which floats in, and lives upon, the air. Her attachment is the heathenism of the heart: she has herself created the glory and beauty with which the idol of her altar stands invested.
- 2009, Adeline Masquelier, Women and Islamic Revival in a West African Town, Page 88
- […] they urge all followers of the Prophet to return to an authentic Islam, devoid of heathenism and innovations.
- Synonym: heathenship
Coordinate terms
- (religions) religion; agnosticism, Asatru, atheism, Ayyavazhi, Baháʼí Faith, Bon, Buddhism, Cao Dai, Cheondoism, Christianity, deism, Druidry, Druze, Eckankar, Heathenry, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Jediism, Judaism, Kimbanguism, Odinism, paganism, Pastafarianism, Raëlism, Rastafarianism, Rodnovery, Romuva, Samaritanism, Sanamahism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Tengrism, Thelema, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Yahwism, Yazidism, Yoruba, Zoroastrianism (Category: en:Religion) [edit]
Translations
paganism
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