agnostic

1 of 2

noun

ag·nos·tic ag-ˈnä-stik

əg-

: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable

broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

: a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something

political agnostics

agnostic

2 of 2

adjective

: of, relating to, or being an agnostic : involving or characterized by agnosticism

: noncommittal, undogmatic

: not preferring a particular device or system

—usually used after a noun

"Children are platform agnostic," said Alice Cahn, vice-president of development for Cartoon Network. "If you want to look foolish with a preschooler, say, 'Sorry, you can't watch that. It's not on.' It's TiVoed, it's online, it's on video on demand."—

Business Wire

: designed to be compatible with different devices (such as computers or smartphones) or operating systems

—usually used after a noun

content that is OS agnostic

—often used in combination

The application is platform-agnostic, so it can work on your tablet or cell phone.

Did you know?

How Agnostic Differs From Atheist

Many people are interested in distinguishing between the words agnostic and atheist. The difference is quite simple: atheist refers to someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods, and agnostic refers to someone who doesn’t know whether there is a god, or even if such a thing is knowable. This distinction can be troublesome to remember, but examining the origins of the two words can help.

Agnostic first appeared in 1869, (possibly coined by the English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley), and was formed from the Greek agnōstos (meaning "unknown, unknowable"). Atheist came to English from the French athéisme. Although both words share a prefix (which is probably the source of much of the confusion) the main body of each word is quite different. Agnostic shares part of its history with words such as prognosticate and prognosis, words which have something to do with knowledge or knowing something. Atheist shares roots with words such as theology and theism, which generally have something to do with God.

Example Sentences

Noun Even polytheists … were in fact tolerated, as Islamic rule spread to most of India. Only the total unbeliever—the agnostic or atheist—was beyond the pale of tolerance … —

Bernard Lewis, Islam in History, 1993 Supporters of education vouchers … will love what Norman Macrae has to say on the subject. Teachers' unions and other opponents of vouchers … will deplore it. Voucher agnostics (and I include myself) might find that the proposal not only answers most doubts but also makes sense on issues they've never much thought about. —

William Raspberry, Springfield (Massachusetts) Union, 14 Aug. 1987 I call myself an agnostic. I do not really have any faith, any coherent religious faith, and yet the one thing in my life that I feel passionate and evangelical about is poetry. —

Maxine Kumin, "An Interview at Interlochen," 1977, in To Make a Prairie, 1979 Adjective Cladistics classifies organisms in nested hierarchies based exclusively on their order of branching. (I should say that I am quite agnostic about this theory, so I do not write as a shill.) —

Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, March 1995 The composition comes alive in stanzas V and VI. This is the dark night. I hoped my readers would remember John of the Cross's poem. My night is not gracious, but secular, puritan, and agnostic. An existentialist night. —

Robert Lowell, Collected Prose, 1987 … I thought that by the time I was past thirty-five—at the very least agnostic and surely swept by the bleak winds of existentialism—I had abandoned the Presbyterian precepts of my childhood. —

William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, 1982 See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Anys growing increasingly platform agnostic, Ahgren believes this approach makes more sense than ever. —

Nathan Grayson, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2022 For example, modern BI tools can be: • Data-source agnostic, meaning any data source can be incorporated into the environment. —

Omri Kohl, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021 Fair Square, which employs about 25 people, has tailored its service to be commission agnostic, according to Petkevich. —

Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Aug. 2022 The term influencer was platform agnostic and described the growing and amorphous power that came with online fame. —

Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post, 5 Aug. 2022 Ensure software is bot-agnostic and can work seamlessly. —

Sudha Chandrasekharan, Forbes, 3 Aug. 2022 Kwami Abdul-Bey, an agnostic, enrolled his 6-year-old son, Lorne, in the program, and attended Monday's opening ceremony. —

Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Online, 2 July 2022 Thåström is written as a harsh existentialist, political and speaks succinctly, while Cave is the opposite, a struggling Dionysian agnostic, and a romantic dreamer who swims in words. —

Alex Ritman, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 June 2022 CISOs must now devise strategies to ensure that data is protected (often at the record level) in a manner agnostic to where it is stored or processed. —

Ameesh Divatia, Forbes, 2 June 2022

Adjective

As a purely electrical and mechanical interface agnostic to use case and communication protocol, NACS is straightforward to adopt. —

Joe Wituschek, BGR, 11 Nov. 2022 The staff quickly recognize him — not because of his growing popularity as a genre-agnostic indie performer, but as a frequent patron of the restaurant’s Sinaloan cuisine, which feels like home for the half-Mexican, half-Black American artist. —

Neena Rouhani, Billboard, 7 Nov. 2022 This omnivorous approach is more norm than outlier these days, and Jockstrap feel like part of a vanguard of genre-agnostic pop. —

Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 17 Aug. 2022 Research also reveals that most consumers are quite agnostic to privacy settings. —

Orly Lobel, Time, 27 Oct. 2022 Regulators should be agnostic about the permit price in a trading system, since the point is to set a target level of emissions and then let the market price that quantity. —

The Editorial Board, WSJ, 11 Sep. 2022 Is Intros meant to be agnostic to any communication platform? —

Frederick Daso, Forbes, 6 July 2022 But increasingly, audiences today are medium agnostic and are mostly driven by the story. —

Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 5 Oct. 2022 Often vendors are frustrated that partners claim to be agnostic in their recommendations. —

Norma Watenpaugh, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agnostic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Greek ágnōstos "unknown, unknowable" (from a- a- entry 2 + gnōstós "known," variant of gnōtós, verbal adjective of gignṓskein "to know entry 1") + -ic entry 2 (after gnostic)