doctrinaire
noun
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The noun doctrine refers to a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true, and is often used specifically for the principles on which a government or religion may be based. Its adjectival form, doctrinal (“of, relating, or preoccupied with doctrine”), as in “doctrinal teachings,” is straightforward and not particularly judgmental. Doctrinaire, however, describes someone who is rigidly and impractically devoted to a doctrine. This critical connotation comes from the word’s history in post-revolutionary France as a name for members of a group of constitutional monarchists led by statesman and philosopher Pierre Paul Royer-Collard. Royer-Collard’s doctrine was opposed by both ultraroyalists and revolutionists, and he was given the nickname “doctrinaire,” which was later capitalized and extended to his colleagues, thereafter known as the Doctrinaires.
Examples of doctrinaire in a Sentence
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 28 Jan. 2026
He was also seen as more openminded—less doctrinaire—on pressing lifestyle questions among churchgoers.
—Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 21 Apr. 2025
His harping on this point could come across as doctrinaire.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2025
First, the election of a U.S. president who seems agnostic toward technology but may be agnostic one minute and then doctrinaire another — doctrinaire to a new, undefined, capricious ideology.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 2 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Doctrinaire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doctrinaire. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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