Atheism
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A non-belief in deities.; Belief that no deities exist (sometimes including rejection of other religious beliefs). uncountable, usually
"Near-synonyms: antireligiousness, irreligion, irreligiousness"
- 2 a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods wordnet
- 3 A non-belief in deities.; A lack of belief in deities, or a belief that there is insufficient evidence to believe in a god. broadly, uncountable, usually
"Near-synonyms: irreligion, irreligiousness, nonreligion, nonreligiousness"
- 4 A non-belief in deities.; Absence of belief that any deities exist (including absence of the concept of deities). uncountable, usually
"What can parents do, and mothers more especially, […] with regard to the atheism that is natural to all the children of men?"
- 5 Absence of belief in a particular deity, pantheon, or religious doctrine (notwithstanding belief in other deities). historical, rare, uncountable, usually
"Domitilla, Flavia, niece of the emperor Domitian (81-96). She and her husband, Flavius Clemens (consul in 95 and cousin of Domitian), were probably Christians; charged with atheism and adoption of Jewish ways, they were punished (95) with death (Clemens) and exile (Domitilla)."
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- 6 A rejection of all religions, even non-theistic ones. proscribed, sometimes, uncountable, usually
"Some worldviews are based in a belief in God; others are not. Buddhism, Taoism, atheism, Marxism, and existentialism are examples of worldviews that are nontheistic."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Socrates was accused of atheism because he did not believe in Zeus."
Etymology
16th century Middle French athéisme, from athée (“atheist”), a loan from Ancient Greek ἄθεος (átheos, “godless”, from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + θεός (theós, “deity, god”)). First English attestation dates to 1587 (OED).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.