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
The first is that those who advocate it, even in the mildest terms, are threatened with death as heretics or apostates.
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2015
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
The first is that those who advocate it, even in the mildest terms, are threatened with death as heretics or apostates.
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2015
See All Example Sentences for heretic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretic
Noun
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The regime has been accused of discrimination, human rights abuses, and suppression of dissenters, which has led to hundreds of thousands of Iranians fleeing since 1979.—
Kamal Morgan,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 Sep. 2025
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His comments come after the Fed governor was the lone dissenter among 12 Federal Open Market Committee voters from the central bank's decision Wednesday to slash its benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter-percentage point, instead calling for a half-point reduction.—
Sean Conlon,
CNBC,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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Jazz is an art form with an outsized share of mavericks, rebels, and creative dissidents who’ve built careers by blazing their own particular paths.—
Andrew Gilbert,
Mercury News,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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There are streets and parks named for Cuban heroes—from Máximo Gómez, an anti-colonial fighter of the nineteenth century, to Osvaldo Payá, a Christian dissident who died in a suspicious car crash in 2012.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
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But many dissidents felt profoundly ambivalent toward a society that, despite having become better educated and more urbanized, was also more dependent than ever on the state.—
Benjamin Nathans
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
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But a few renegades creatively defected across the pond, looking instead at America for inspiration.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
23 Sep. 2025
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Lopez posted lookbooks on Facebook and staged renegade runway shows—during, but outside, the main calendar of New York Fashion Week.—
Ana Karina Zatarain,
New Yorker,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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Even the possibility of Stern going away is a signal of how things have changed for the iconoclast.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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