agnostic 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of agnosticnext
as in secular
not having or showing conviction about the existence of God As she grew older, she began to question the religious teachings of her youth and became more agnostic.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

agnostic

2 of 2

noun

as in skeptic
a person who does not have a definite belief about whether God exists or not He was an agnostic despite his religious upbringing.

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of agnostic
Adjective
Other critics question whether religious stories should be taught at all in schools attended by thousands of children of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other faiths, and others who identify as atheist or agnostic. — ABC News, 24 June 2026 Edwards and Colston were agnostic about betting, but pitched the fund as an alternative. — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 20 June 2026
Noun
The exemplar of how controversy can turn sports agnostics into a captive audience is the ladies’ singles figure skating finals at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 20 Feb. 2026 As agnostics, we are also intrigued by the return of certain humanitarian values to Catholicism under Pope Francis — the idea of the Church as a place for the outcast. — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 16 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for agnostic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agnostic
  1. secular
  2. skeptic
  3. atheistic
  4. skeptical
Adjective
  • China’s multi-year slowdown, combined with the steady, secular shift toward alternative energy sources, continues to dull long-term demand and has fundamentally altered global consumption projections.
    — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 13 July 2026
  • The risk with any attempt to explain religion to a secular audience is playing into the misapprehension that American Christianity is monolithic.
    — Meghan O’Gieblyn, The New York Review of Books, 11 July 2026
Definition of secular
Noun
  • Her rise has drawn both admiration from fans and criticism from skeptics who question whether children should pursue social-media stardom.
    — Kara Nesvig, Time, 14 July 2026
  • Daron Acemoglu, an MIT economist and noted AI productivity skeptic, tells me 10 percent job displacement within the next decade is likely.
    — Benjamin Guggenheim, Washington Post, 14 July 2026
Definition of skeptic
Adjective
  • His father's death during World War II influenced his pursuit of the ministry even amid the officially atheistic communist regime of the Soviet Union, according to his obituary on the OCU website.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Mar. 2026
  • But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews.
    — Jacqui Frost, The Conversation, 11 Jan. 2024
Definition of atheistic
Adjective
  • Al Khafaji’s nay-sayers weren’t wrong to be skeptical about the construction space.
    — Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 15 July 2026
  • Despite their differing opinions on Oppenheimer, everyone in the studio was jazzed to see what Nolan had made (though Hannah was a little skeptical of Matt Damon as Odysseus).
    — Alex Jhamb Burns, Vogue, 14 July 2026
Definition of skeptical

Browse Nearby Words

aglow
agnostic
agnosticism
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Agnostic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agnostic. Accessed 17 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on agnostic

Nglish: Translation of agnostic for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of obdurate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 17
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

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
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All