skepticism

English

Alternative forms

• scepticism (Commonwealth)

Etymology

From New Latin scepticismus; equivalent to skeptic +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

Noun

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

1. (philosophy) The practice or philosophy of being a skeptic.

   Coordinate term: cynicism

2. (philosophy) A studied attitude of questioning and doubt.
   • 2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 June 2019:

     Ever since El Martinez started asking to be called by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” in the ninth grade, they have fielded skepticism in a variety of forms and from a multitude of sources about what it means to identify as nonbinary.

3. (philosophy) 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) (tʻerahavatutʻyun), կասկածամտություն (hy) (kaskacamtutʻyun)
• 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), szkepszis (hu)
• Icelandic: efahyggja
• Indonesian: skeptisisme (id)
• Italian: scetticismo (it)
• Japanese: 懐疑主義 (ja) (かいぎしゅぎ, kaigishugi), 懐疑論 (ja) (かいぎろん, kaigiron), スケプチシズム (ja) (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, şüphecilik (tr)
• Ukrainian: скептици́зм (skeptycýzm)
• Volapük: dotim (vo)

doctrine

• Armenian: կասկածապաշտություն (kaskacapaštutʻyun), սկեպտիցիզմ (hy) (skepticʻizm)
• Finnish: skepticism (fi), skeptisismi (fi)
• Galician: escepticismo (gl) m
• Polish: sceptycyzm (pl) m
• Turkish: septisizm (tr), kuşkuculuk (tr), şüphecilik (tr)
• Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa hoài nghi

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

Cognate of German Skeptizismus, French scepticisme.

Noun

skepticism c (uncountable)

1. skepticism

Declension

Declension of skepticism

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	skepticism	skepticisms
	definite	skepticismen	skepticismens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

Related terms

• skepsis
• skeptiker
• skeptisk

Further reading

• skepticism in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker