1
as in dissenter
a person who believes, teaches, or advocates something opposed to accepted beliefs
Galileo was condemned as a heretic for supporting Copernicus's thesis that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in maverick
a person who does not conform to generally accepted standards or customs
he's the ultimate heretic: a Yankees fan living deep in the heart of the Red Sox Nation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of heretic
Among these men are many violent extremists who consider Syria’s minorities—including Alawites and Christians, as well as Druze and Kurds—to be heretics.
—
Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 18 July 2025
Young Morrison got a harsh lesson in how things are done in a blue state: Liberal groupthink is gospel, dissenters are heretics who should be hushed.
—Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 28 May 2025
The witch in question is Jovovich’s Gray Alys, introduced on the brink of being hanged as a heretic by Ash (Arly Jover), a fervent enforcer in a dystopian future ruled by both a royal house and cult-like church.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025
This approach demands that those who were once secular priests—the leaders of the philanthropic sector—abandon their cassocks and accept the mantle of the heretic.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for heretic
Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 18 July 2025
Young Morrison got a harsh lesson in how things are done in a blue state: Liberal groupthink is gospel, dissenters are heretics who should be hushed.
—Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 28 May 2025
The witch in question is Jovovich’s Gray Alys, introduced on the brink of being hanged as a heretic by Ash (Arly Jover), a fervent enforcer in a dystopian future ruled by both a royal house and cult-like church.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025
This approach demands that those who were once secular priests—the leaders of the philanthropic sector—abandon their cassocks and accept the mantle of the heretic.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for heretic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretic
Noun
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Jerusalem — On a hot Friday morning in September, dozens of Israelis turned up at Gaza’s border fence – not as soldiers, but as dissenters.—
Zeena Saifi,
CNN Money,
5 Oct. 2025
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One early dissenter was Dorothy Parker, who panned the final book in her Constant Reader column for The New Yorker.—
Bruce Handy,
Air Mail,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The Arsham Splash dovetails into Hublot’s longstanding maverick approach but also into a growing watchmaking trend of offering pieces that break away from traditional high-end watchmaking.—
Lily Templeton,
Footwear News,
9 Oct. 2025
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Henry Jaglom, the maverick auteur who crafted deeply intimate and unconventional films that explored the intricacies of relationships and the quirkiness of human behavior, has died.—
Chris Koseluk,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Also not fitting the West’s preconceptions was the fact that most Soviet dissidents didn’t reject socialism.—
Matthew Wills,
JSTOR Daily,
3 Oct. 2025
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The festival also falls during the seventh anniversary of the assassination of Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, which a US intelligence report says happened at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.—
Liam Reilly,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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For years, Hollywood content creators have warned about piracy, whether through bootleg VHS tapes, or BitTorrent, or renegade streaming providers.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
9 Oct. 2025
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Skarsgård has long been a red carpet renegade, showing flashes of that playful freak that lives within.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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To be in the presence of this iconoclast was quite something.—
Ellie Goulding,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
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But this documentary shows us Novak as the fiercely independent iconoclast who left Hollywood on her own terms.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
25 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.
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