atheist

See also: Atheist and atheïst

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French athéiste (athée + -iste), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin atheos, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek , from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + .

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪθiɪst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: a‧the‧ist

Noun

atheist (plural atheists)

1. A person who does not believe in deities.
   • 1910, The Vermont Digest 1789-1905‎^[1], 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. […] Changed by Acts of 1851, No. 12 (P. S. 1593), under which, no question can be raised as to a witness's "opinions on matters of religious belief."

   1. (strictly) A person who believes that no deities exist (especially, one who has no other religious belief).
      • 1571 October 20, Arthur Golding, “The Epistle Dedicatory”, in Psalmes of Dauid and others, with M. John Caluin's Commentaries‎^[2]:

        Ageine, the Atheistes, which say in their hartes there is no God; […]

      • 1953 November 3, Bertrand Russell, “What is an Agnostic?”, in Look‎^[3]:

        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 rejects belief that any deities exist (whether or not that person believes that deities do not exist).
      • 1843, G. J. Holyoake, “A Reciprocal Dialogue”, in Paterson, Thomas, editors, The Oracle of Reason, Or, Philosophy Vindicated‎^[4], 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, Richard Dawkins, “The God Hypothesis”, in The God Delusion‎^[5], 1st Am. edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC BL2775.3.D39 2006, 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, such as a person who has no concept of deities.
      • 1772, Good Sense without God: Or Freethoughts Opposed to Supernatural Ideas‎^[6], 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?

2. (uncommon) 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, Edward Gibbon, chapter 16, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, new edition, volume 1, page 183:

     Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians 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.

   • 2009, Lyndon Lamborn, Standing For Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 171:

     Throughout history, atheists were simply people who did not believe the prevalent God of the day. For the sun-worshippers, Christians were atheists. For Jewish people, Christians were atheists. Whoever does not believe in your God is by definition, an atheist. […] With all the countless Gods concocted by man, I claim that my Christian friends and I have something in common. We are all atheists, I just believe in one less God than they.

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:atheist.

Synonyms

• nontheist
• (derogatory, childish) atheitard, gaytheist

Antonyms

• theist

Hypernyms

• bright

Hyponyms

• new atheist
• hard atheist
• soft atheist
• azeusist

Related terms

Related terms

• atheism
• atheistic
• atheistical
• atheophobia
• pantheist

• polytheist
• theist
• monotheist
• aatheist

Translations

a person who believes that no deities exist

• Arabic: مُلْحِد m (mulḥid) (modern), زِنْدِيق m (zindīq) (classical), عِلْج m (ʕilj), كَافِر m (kāfir), دَهْرِيّ (dahriyy)

  Moroccan Arabic: كافر m (kæfər)

• Armenian: աթեիստ (hy) (atʻeist)
• Bulgarian: атеи́ст m (ateíst), атеи́стка f (ateístka)
• Catalan: ateu (ca) m, atea (ca)
• Dutch: atheïst (nl) m, atheïste (nl) f (rare), godloochenaar m or f (pejorative, polemical), goddeloze (nl) m or f (pejorative, polemical)
• Esperanto: ateisto, ateistino (female)
• Finnish: ateisti (fi)
• French: athée (fr) m or f
• Georgian: ათეისტი (ateisṭi), ურწმუნო (urc̣muno)
• German: Atheist (de) m, Atheistin (de) f; Gottesleugner m (pejorative, polemical), Gottesleugnerin f (pejorative, polemical), Gottloser m, Gottlose f
• Hindi: नास्तिक (hi) (nāstik)
• Hungarian: ateista (hu)
• Icelandic: trúleysingi m, guðleysingi (is) m, heiðingi (is) m
• Interlingue: ,
• Irish: aindiachaí m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ateo (it) m, atea (it) f
• Japanese: 無神論者 (mushinronsha)
• Norman: athée m or f
• Persian: آتئیست (âteist), ^{(please verify)} کافر (fa) (kâfir)
• Polish: ateista (pl) m, ateistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: ateu (pt) m, ateia (pt) f, ateísta (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ateist (ro) m, ateistă f, ateu (ro) m
• Russian: атеи́ст (ru) m (ateíst), атеи́стка (ru) f (ateístka)
• Sanskrit: धन्य (sa) m (dhanya)
• Spanish: ateo (es) m, atea (es) f
• Swahili: mkanamungu class 1/2, mkana-mungu class 1/2, mkana mungu class 1/2
• Swedish: ateist (sv) c
• Thai: ผู้ที่เชื่อว่าไม่มีพระเจ้า (pûu-tîi-chʉ̂ʉa-wâa-mâi-mii-prá-jâao), ผู้ถืออเทวนิยม (pûu-tʉ̌ʉ-à-tee-wá-ní-yom)
• Turkish: ateist (tr), tanrıtanımaz (tr)
• Walloon: atêye (wa) m or f, ateyisse m or f
• Yiddish: אַטעיִסט m (ateist)

a person who rejects belief that any deities exist, whether or not that person believes that deities do not exist

• Arabic: مُلْحِد m (mulḥid) (modern), زِنْدِيق m (zindīq) (classical), عِلْج m (ʕilj), كَافِر m (kāfir), دَهْرِيّ (dahriyy)
• Armenian: աթեիստ (hy) (atʻeist), անաստված (hy) (anastvac)
• Bulgarian: атеи́ст m (ateíst), атеи́стка f (ateístka), безбо́жник (bg) m (bezbóžnik), безбо́жница f (bezbóžnica), неве́рник (bg) m (nevérnik), неве́рница f (nevérnica)
• Catalan: ateu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無神論者／无神论者 (zh) (wúshénlùnzhě), 无神论者 (zh) (wúshénlùnzhě)

• Czech: ateista (cs) m, ateistka f
• Dutch: atheïst (nl) m or f, atheïste (nl) f (rare)
• Esperanto: ateisto
• Estonian: ateist
• Finnish: ateisti (fi)
• French: athée (fr), athéiste (fr) m
• German: Atheist (de) m, Atheistin (de) f; Nichtglaubender m, Nichtglaubende f; Agnostiker (de) m, Agnostiker (de) f
• Greek: αθεϊστής (el) m (atheïstís)
• Hindi: नास्तिक (hi) (nāstik)
• Hungarian: ateista (hu)
• Interlingue: ,
• Irish: aindiachaí m
• Italian: ateo (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 無神論者 (むしんろんしゃ, mushinronsha), 無信仰者 (むしんこうしゃ, mushinkōsha)
• Korean: 무신론자 (ko) (musillonja) (無神論者 (ko))
• Latin: atheos m
• Malay: ateis, mulhid
• Norman: athée m or f
• Norwegian: ateist (no) m
• Polish: bezwyznaniowiec m, niewierzący (pl) m, ateista (pl) m, ateistka (pl) f, bezbożnik (pl)
• Portuguese: ateu (pt) m, ateia (pt) f, ateísta (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ateist (ro) m, ateu (ro) m
• Russian: атеи́ст (ru) m (ateíst), атеи́стка (ru) f (ateístka), безбо́жник (ru) m (bezbóžnik), безбо́жница (ru) f (bezbóžnica), неве́рующий (ru) m (nevérujuščij), неве́рующая (ru) f (nevérujuščaja)
• Spanish: ateo (es) m, atea (es) f
• Swahili: mkanamungu class 1/2, mkana-mungu class 1/2, mkana mungu class 1/2
• Swedish: ateist (sv) c
• Telugu: నాస్తికుడు (te) (nāstikuḍu)
• Thai: ผู้ที่เชื่อว่าไม่มีพระเจ้า (pûu-tîi-chʉ̂ʉa-wâa-mâi-mii-prá-jâao), ผู้ถืออเทวนิยม (pûu-tʉ̌ʉ-à-tee-wá-ní-yom)
• Turkish: ateist (tr), tanrıtanımaz (tr)
• Volapük: Godinoan (vo), godinoan (vo) (male or female); Godihinoan, godihinoan (male); Godijinoan, godijinoan (female)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} ateist (sq)
• Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} کافر (kafr)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} atheo m, ^{(please verify)} athea f
• (deprecated template usage) Italian: ^{(please verify)} ateo (it) m, ^{(please verify)} ateista m or f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Romanian: ^{(please verify)} ateu (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} atee (ro) f
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} ateist m, ^{(please verify)} ateistka f

See also

• agnostic
• deist
• pandeist
• ignostic
• apatheist
• God hypothesis

Adjective

atheist (comparative more atheist, superlative most atheist)

1. Of or relating to atheists or atheism; atheistic.
   • c. 16th-17th century Francis Bacon, Of Unity in Religion,

     He would have been seven times more Epicure and atheist than he was.

Translations

relating to atheists — see atheistic

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of philosophical isms

Further reading

• “atheist”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• eat shit, hastite, staithe, teatish