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- pronunciation:
- aeg
na
stihk
- parts of speech:
- noun, adjective
- features:
- Word Parts
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition 1: |
one who believes it is impossible to know anything about the existence or nonexistence of God or about the essential nature of things beyond the material universe.
He'd grown up in a religious family, but he later became an agnostic.- synonyms:
- freethinker, skeptic
- antonyms:
- believer
- similar words:
- atheist, disbeliever, doubter, empiricist, heretic, infidel, questioner
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| definition 2: |
one who is unwilling or unable to commit to a particular stance concerning something.
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| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
of or pertaining to agnostics or their beliefs.
His attitude toward religion is agnostic; he takes the stance that one cannot know whether God exists or not.- synonyms:
- cynical, faithless, freethinking, godless, infidel, irreligious
- similar words:
- disbelieving, doubtful, incredulous, irreverent, skeptical, unbelieving
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| definition 2: |
having a noncommittal or doubtful opinion about something.
I have firm opinions about political questions in general, but I'm agnostic about this particular issue. |
| derivations: |
agnostically (adv.), agnosticism (n.) |
The word agnostic
contains the following parts:
a-1, an-1
Greek
prefix
that means not, without
  More about this word part:
Words prefixed with a-1, an-1 are nouns and adjectives. Some are loanwords from Greek (amorphous, atrophy). Others are English formations, which may attach the prefix to English words of Latin origin (asocial, amoral) or Greek origin (apolitical). The form a-1 is used before bases beginning with a consonant, while an-1 is used before bases beginning with a vowel.
Example words:
abyss, amethyst, amnesia, anaemia, anarchy, anecdote, anemia, anesthesia, anonymous, apathy, atheist, atom
gnos, gnosis, gnom, -gnomy
Greek
root
that means know, knowledge
Example words:
- synonyms:
- cogn, cognit, gnor
-ic
Latin and Greek
adjective-forming suffix
that means like, pertaining to
More about this word part:
The suffix -ic
attaches to roots and words of Greek or Latin origin to form adjectives. A few words ending in -ic
(magic
, critic
, music
) were adjectives that became nouns in Greek before they entered English, also as nouns.
Example words:
aerobic, antibiotic, aquatic, civic, comic, critic, democratic, domestic, dramatic, eccentric, economic, erratic, fantastic, geometric, magic, microscopic, music, pathetic, periodic, physical, physics, sonic, sympathetic
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