“doctrine of”

The following 2 entries include the term doctrine of.

doctrine of correspondence

: the theory in Swedenborgianism that natural objects correspond to or participate in transcendent archetypes compare participation

See the full definition

doctrine of descent

: a theory in biology: all animals and plants are direct descendants of previous animals or plants —opposed to special creation

See the full definition

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wiseacre

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Challenging Words You Should Know

  • hedgehog reading a book
  • Often used to describe “the march of time,” what does inexorable mean?
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

TAKE THE QUIZ
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Pick the best words!

PLAY
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
8-track-tapes
Good Old-Fashioned Quiz Can you name these antiquated items?
See All