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
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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
Added to that, in the eyes of Roman Catholic Europe—and many of her own subjects—the new Queen was a heretic.
—
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
Giordano Bruno, a like-minded heretic, already had been just a few years earlier.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
During the Middle Ages, the church endorsed the execution of heretics and held firm that secular authorities could and should put people to death for serious crimes.
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Austin Sarat,
The Conversation,
9 July 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
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
Giordano Bruno, a like-minded heretic, already had been just a few years earlier.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
During the Middle Ages, the church endorsed the execution of heretics and held firm that secular authorities could and should put people to death for serious crimes.
—
Austin Sarat,
The Conversation,
9 July 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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The liberal dissenters agreed with immigration rights lawyers who saw this as a nonsensical reading of the law.
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But there have been dissenters.
Noun
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His maverick persona and armored storm-chasing vehicle, the Dominator 3 — featured on Jay Leno’s Garage — directly inspired the character of Tyler Owens, played by Glen Powell in the 2024 summer blockbuster Twisters.
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In a way, the fact that Huston was made up of two halves — one part iconoclastic maverick, one part old school craftsman — gave him an edge his fellow septuagenarians lacked.
Noun
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Investigators probe whether Moscow ordered the brazen daylight killing in eastern Poland, now a key refuge for Russian and Belarusian dissidents and for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian war refugees.
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Iran hawks and an array of dissidents and mainstream voices within the Republican Party have cast doubt on whether the agreement secured satisfactory concessions from Iran.
Noun
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Moon was a trailblazer and iconoclast.
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Zulfi is an iconoclast and a hustler, a man who dreams of opening a Muslims-only version of Uber and who, even in the face of Shah’s elitism and English society’s broader wariness, holds onto an unshakable optimism.
Noun
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There are Sixties rock bands like the Sonics and the Small Faces, and pioneering hippie renegades like Love or the Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
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The president can call out the army against seceding states and their renegade congresspeople.
Cite this Entry
“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 1 Jul. 2026.
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