pagan

1 of 2

noun

pa·​gan ˈpā-gən 

plural pagans

1

: a person who practices a contemporary form of paganism (such as Wicca) : neo-pagan

… thousands of people … flock to the iconic prehistoric stone monument of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southwestern England to celebrate the solstice in a tradition that has been observed for millennia and still carries spiritual importance for modern-day pagans.

—Aristos Georgiou

Greece's pagans have found an unlikely champion in James O'Dell, a Croydon-born chartered surveyor who gave up his job to "serve the gods". Through the internet he has brought Apollo-loving pagans together in Britain …

—Helena Smith

2

a

old fashioned + often offensive : a person who is not religious or whose religion is not Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity : heathen

b

history : a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome or Greece)

We are not ancient Greek pagans who saw death as the gateway to Hades.

—Christopher Howse

… responses that reveal how [ancient] Roman pagans responded to the withdrawal of administrative support for traditional Roman religion.

—R. E. Winn

… he added, with the air of a man who believed what he was telling, "but the first that went astray here was a pagan of old Rome, who hid himself in order to spy out and betray the blessed saints … "

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

3

literary : one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : a nonreligious hedonistic person

He himself is a pagan of the decadence. He … prefers a well-ordered dinner to a dissertation on the immortality of the soul.

—Charles Dudley Warner

paganish

ˈpā-gə-nish 

adjective

pagan

2 of 2

adjective

: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of pagans

pagan customs/beliefs

Reuse of Roman objects was not uncommon during the Middle Ages, although the discovery of ancient sculpture was usually a momentous event, and pagan images in particular provoked fearful responses.

—Peter Scott Brown

In addition to moon-rituals, wiccans celebrate pagan seasonal holidays …

—Scott McMurray

Did you know?

The Uses and Origins of Heathen and Pagan

Heathen is a dated term used primarily of someone who is not religious, or whose religion is not Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity. It is also sometimes used disapprovingly of someone who is not cultured; this use is also dated.

In current use, pagan is most commonly used of someone who practices a contemporary form of paganism, such as Wicca, making the word synonymous with neo-pagan. But pagan also has meanings identical to those of heathen; in those uses it too is dated. Additionally, pagan has literary use referring to a nonreligious person who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods.

The origins of heathen and pagan are semantically similar. Heathen likely comes from a term for a country inhabitant—in particular, a “heath dweller.” The Latin source of pagan, paganus, originally meant “country dweller” or “civilian;” it was used at the end of the Roman Empire to refer to people who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, and especially to those who worshiped multiple deities. It’s believed that the religious meanings of paganus developed either from the enduring non-Christian religious practices of those who lived far from the Roman cities where Christianity was more quickly adopted, or from the fact that early Christians referred to themselves as “soldiers of Christ,” making nonbelievers “civilians.”

Synonyms

Noun

• gentile
• heathen
• idolater
• idolator

Examples of pagan in a Sentence

Noun

the temple was built by pagans in the 4th century as a place to worship their idols

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Church officials decided to recognize Dec. 25 as his birthday, probably to coincide with the date of pagan festivals in an attempt to get pagans to accept Christianity as the official religion. —Atlanta Life, ajc, 10 Nov. 2017

While plague stalks the land, paranoid peasants swap cautionary folk tales about evil spirits, pagans, Jews and other outsiders. —Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2017

Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of Englandand established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans. —Jonah Goldberg, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 Sep. 2017

Lance Wallnau, a Christian author, claimed God spoke to him and showed him that Trump was like King Cyrus, who followed God’s will despite being a pagan. —Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2017

To do Trumpzilla justice, the film should be blustery, spectacular, gold-garish, and neo-pagan, a Circus Maximus Cecil B. DeMille might have whipped up with his riding crop after a fever dream. —James Wolcott, HWD, 19 June 2017

Adjective

This attempt to turn back the clock included the purging of Christian texts from schools, the conversion of Christian churches into pagan temples, and religious persecution as it had been practiced in centuries past. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 22 Feb. 2025

Over time, my conquistadors retired, and my pagan temples got demolished to make way for grocery stores. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2025

As de Kort tells Live Science, these treasures were buried in several deposits that might have constituted offerings to a pagan god—possibly Wodan, the Germanic persona of the Norse god Odin. —Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Feb. 2025

That is an ancient pagan symbol coopted by Germany’s Nazi regime and worn prominently during World War II on the uniforms of the brutal Waffen SS units. —Matthew Kriner, The Conversation, 3 Feb. 2025

The tradition of houses of worship providing sanctuary predates Christianity, and was practiced in pagan temples. —Sarah Matusek, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jan. 2025

Hebrew prophets, in turn, began transforming pagan cycles of birth, death, and renewal into a rectilinear history. —Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025

Missionaries to Europe Popes began to send missionaries to convert other pagan peoples in Europe. —Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2025

The seasonal rites, as old as pagan times, are so ancient and organic that no one thinks to question them. —Sam Sacks, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Late Latin paganus, from Latin, civilian, country dweller, from pagus country district; akin to Latin pangere to fix — more at pact

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing pagan

• neo-pagan

Rhymes for pagan

• fagin
• mohegan

Kids Definition

pagan

noun

pa·​gan ˈpā-gən 

1

: a person who does not know about or worship the God of the Bible

2

: a person who is not religious

pagan adjective

paganism

-gə-ˌniz-əm

noun

Etymology

Noun

Middle English pagan "heathen," from Latin paganus (same meaning), from earlier paganus "person who lives in a rural area," from pagus "village, district"

Word Origin

In ancient Rome a person living in a rural area or village was called paganus, a word derived from the Latin noun pagus, meaning "village, district." In time paganus came to refer to a civilian as opposed to a soldier. When Christianity became generally accepted in the towns and cities of the empire, paganus was used to refer to a villager who continued to worship the old gods. Christians used the term for anyone not of their faith or of the Jewish faith. The word in Old English for such a person was what is now heathen. In the 14th century, English borrowed the Latin paganus as pagan, and used it with the same meaning. In time both heathen and pagan also took on the meaning of "a person having no religion."