heresy

English

Alternative forms

• hæresy

Etymology

From Middle English heresie, from Old French heresie (modern hérésie), from Latin haeresis, from Ancient Greek αἵρεσις (haíresis, “choice, system of principles”), from αἱρέομαι (hairéomai, “to take for oneself, to choose”), the middle voice of αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ser-; see also Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹəsi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛəɹɪsi

Noun

heresy (countable and uncountable, plural heresies)

1. (religion) a doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance or conflict with established religious beliefs
   • 1968, History of Western Civilization, edited by Heyes, Baldwin & Cole, p.47. Macmillan. Library of Congress 67–13596

     Heresy meant deliberate departure from the accepted doctrines of the church. It was intellectual and spiritual dissent and concerned the beliefs of Christianity, not the morals of its adherents.

   Synonym: misbelief

   Antonym: orthodoxy

2. (by extension) A controversial or unorthodox opinion held by a member of a group, as in politics, philosophy or science.
   • 1985 April 17, Frank Herbert, 15:58 from the start, in Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985‎^[1], UCLACommStudies, archived from the original on 10 February 2017:

     I'm going to declare a heresy for you. All science, if you go back into its roots, saying: 'Why do I believe this?' 'Well, I believe this because of these tests and this proof.' 'Well, why do I believe this?' 'Why did I set up this test?' 'Why did I believe that proof?' All science goes back to something that we believe because we believe it. We believe it because we believe it, and we have no proof for it. It's like a religion.

Hyponyms

• arch-heresy
• Arian heresy
• formal heresy
• material heresy

Related terms

• heresiarch
• heretic
• heretical

Translations

dissension from religious dogma

• Afrikaans: kettery, dwaalleer, dwaallere pl
• Albanian: herezi (sq) f
• Arabic: هَرْطَقَة f (harṭaqa), بِدْعَة (ar) f (bidʕa)
• Armenian: հերետիկոսություն (hy) (heretikosutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: bidət
• Bashkir: бидғәт (bidğət)
• Belarusian: е́рась f (jérasʹ)
• Bulgarian: е́рес (bg) f (éres)
• Catalan: heretgia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 異端／异端 (zh) (yìduān), 邪說／邪说 (zh) (xiéshuō), 異教／异教 (zh) (yìjiào), 邪教 (zh) (xiéjiào)

• Czech: kacířství n
• Danish: kætteri (da) n
• Dutch: dwaalleer (nl) m, ketterij (nl) f
• Esperanto: herezo
• Estonian: ketserlus
• Finnish: harhaoppi (fi), vääräoppisuus (fi), vääräuskoisuus, kerettiläisyys (fi)
• French: hérésie (fr) f
• Galician: herexía (gl) f
• Georgian: ერესი (ka) (eresi), მწვალებლობა (mc̣valebloba)
• German: Häresie (de) f, Ketzerei (de) f
• Greek: αίρεση (el) f (aíresi)
• Hebrew: כְּפִירָה (kfirá), מִינוּת (minút)
• Hungarian: eretnekség (hu)
• Icelandic: villutrú
• Indonesian: bidat, aliran sesat
• Irish: eiriceacht f
• Italian: eresia (it) f
• Japanese: 異端 (ja) (いたん, itan), 邪教 (ja) (じゃきょう, jakyō), 邪宗 (じゃしゅう, jashū)
• Kazakh: дінбұзарлық (dınbūzarlyq), бидғат (bidğat)
• Korean: 이단(異端) (idan), 사교(邪敎) (ko) (sagyo), 사종(邪宗) (sajong)
• Kyrgyz: ересь (yeres), бидъат (bidat)
• Latvian: ķecerība f
• Lithuanian: erezija f
• Macedonian: ерес f (eres)
• Malay: bid'ah
• Maori: heretikitanga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тэрс ном (ters nom)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjetteri n, heresi m

  Nynorsk: kjettarskap m, heresi m

• Occitan: eretgia (oc) f
• Persian: هرطقه (hartaqe), بدعت (fa) (bed'at)
• Polish: herezja (pl) f, kacerstwo (pl) n, bogoburstwo n
• Portuguese: heresia (pt) f
• Romanian: erezie (ro) f
• Russian: е́ресь (ru) f (jéresʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: је̏ре̄с f

  Roman: jȅrēs (sh) f

• Slovak: heréza f, kacírstvo n
• Slovene: herezija (sl) f
• Spanish: herejía (es) f
• Swedish: kätteri (sv) n
• Tagalog: erehiya
• Tajik: бидъат (bidʾat)
• Turkish: dalalet (tr), sapkınlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: є́ресь f (jéresʹ)
• Uzbek: bidʻat
• Vietnamese: dị giáo, tà giáo
• Volapük: häret (vo)

a controversial opinion

• Catalan: heretgia f
• Czech: kacířství n
• Danish: kætteri (da) n
• Dutch: ketterij (nl)
• Finnish: harhaoppi (fi), kerettiläisyys (fi)
• French: hérésie (fr) f
• Greek: αίρεση (el) f (aíresi)
• Japanese: 異端 (ja) (いたん, itan)
• Kazakh: күпiрлік (küpirlık)
• Korean: 이단(異端) (idan)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjetteri n, vranglære (no) m or f

• Persian: بدعت (fa) (bed'at)
• Polish: herezja (pl) f
• Portuguese: heresia (pt) f
• Russian: е́ресь (ru) f (jéresʹ)
• Swedish: kätteri (sv) n, irrlära (sv) c
• Tajik: бидъат (bidʾat)
• Turkish: sapkınlık (tr)

See also

• bid'a
• schism
• Arianism
• monophysism
• Nestorianism
• Pelagianism

Anagrams

• Hersey, Heyers, heyres