noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A Christian belief that denies the view of original sin and the necessity of grace, asserting that man is capable of achieving salvation by his own efforts. uncountable
2. 2
   the theological doctrine put forward by Pelagius which denied original sin and affirmed the ability of humans to be righteous; condemned as heresy by the Council of Ephesus in 431 wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

errorfallacyheresymisbeliefpantheism

Etymology

From the name of its founder, Pelagius: Pelagian + -ism.

Related phrases

original sin

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.