skepticism

English

Alternative forms

• scepticism (Commonwealth)

Etymology

skeptic +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛp.tɪˌsɪ.zəm/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic)

    (file)

Noun

skepticism (countable and uncountable, plural skepticisms) (American spelling)

1. The practice or philosophy of being a skeptic.
2. A studied attitude of questioning and doubt
3. The doctrine that absolute knowledge is not possible
4. A methodology that starts from a neutral standpoint and aims to acquire certainty through scientific or logical observation.
5. Doubt or disbelief of religious doctrines

Derived terms

• antiskepticism
• Euroskepticism
• Euro-skepticism
• technoskepticism

 

Related terms

• skeptic
• skeptical

Translations

general disposition to doubt

• Albanian: skepticizmi
• Armenian: թերահավատություն (hy) (tʿerahavatutʿyun), կասկածամտություն (hy) (kaskacamtutʿyun)
• Basque: eszeptizismo
• Bulgarian: скептици́зъм (bg) m (skepticízǎm)
• Catalan: escepticisme
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懷疑論／怀疑论 (zh) (huáiyílùn), 懷疑主義／怀疑主义 (zh) (huáiyízhǔyì)

• Crimean Tatar: skeptitsizm, şübecilik
• Czech: skepticismus m, skepse f
• Danish: skepticisme
• Dutch: twijfelzucht f, scepticisme (nl), skepticisme
• Estonian: skeptitsism
• Faroese: ivastevna f
• Finnish: skeptisyys (fi)
• French: scepticisme (fr) m
• Galician: escepticismo (gl) m
• German: Skeptizismus (de) m, Skepsis (de) f
• Greek: σκεπτικισμός (el) (skeptikismós)
• Hebrew: ספקנות‎ f (safkanút)
• Hungarian: szkepticizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: efahyggja
• Indonesian: skeptisisme (id)
• Italian: scetticismo (it)
• Japanese: 懐疑主義 (かいぎしゅぎ, kaigishugi), 懐疑論 (かいぎろん, kaigiron), スケプチシズム (sukepuchishizumu)
• Latin: scepticismus
• Lithuanian: skepticizmas m
• Malay: skeptisisme
• Norwegian: skeptisisme
• Polish: sceptycyzm (pl) m
• Portuguese: ceticismo (pt) m
• Romanian: scepticism (ro) n
• Russian: скептици́зм (ru) m (skepticízm), ске́псис (ru) m (sképsis)
• Scottish Gaelic: neo-chreidmheachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скептицизам m

  Roman: skepticizam (sh) m

• Slovak: skepticizmus
• Slovene: skepticizem
• Spanish: escepticismo (es) m
• Swedish: skepticism (sv)
• Tagalog: kila, pangingila
• Turkish: kuşkuculuk (tr), septisizm (tr), skeptisizm
• Ukrainian: скептици́зм (skeptycýzm)
• Volapük: dotim (vo)

doctrine

• Armenian: կասկածապաշտություն (kaskacapaštutʿyun), սկեպտիցիզմ (hy) (skepticʿizm)
• Finnish: skepticism (fi), skeptisismi (fi)
• Galician: escepticismo (gl) m
• Polish: sceptycyzm (pl) m
• Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa hoài nghi