as in dissent
departure from a generally accepted theory, opinion, or practice
the heresy of asserting that Shakespeare was not a great writer
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Recent Examples of heresy
A day that started all warm and quiet and cozy has now spiraled into screams of heresy and hearsay punctuated by occasional wrestling matches on the carpet.
—
Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 7 Nov. 2025
That large firms armed with experts would fall into the trap of bidding in auctions in which the winner is cursed to lose was major heresy to economists.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
In the value-investing, human discretion driven ethos of PIMCO this was heresy.
—Vineer Bhansali, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
All have historical roots, many once considered and debated, just to be cast aside during the Oslo years, when the two-state solution—whose roots were shallower—ruled supreme, became the lingua franca, and all else was deemed heresy.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heresy
Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 7 Nov. 2025
That large firms armed with experts would fall into the trap of bidding in auctions in which the winner is cursed to lose was major heresy to economists.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
In the value-investing, human discretion driven ethos of PIMCO this was heresy.
—Vineer Bhansali, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
All have historical roots, many once considered and debated, just to be cast aside during the Oslo years, when the two-state solution—whose roots were shallower—ruled supreme, became the lingua franca, and all else was deemed heresy.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heresy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heresy
Noun
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Some clerics support political reform and greater social freedoms, others demand harsher crackdowns on dissent, and many focus primarily on preserving their own institutions and financial interests.—
Narges Bajoghli,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
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The state Supreme Court upheld the provision 5-2 along party lines, with dissents coming from the two Republican justices, David Overstreet and Lisa Holder White.—
Jeremy Gorner,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Shalom Auslander’s literary career has been built on equal parts comedy, heterodoxy and self-loathing.—
Mark Athitakis,
Washington Post,
25 July 2024
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Historians have put forward theories which emphasized the (overstated) isolation of the province, its religious heterodoxy, and, most compellingly, its lack of the kind of 17th-century political traditions that colonists in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia drew on for support.—
Alexandra L. Montgomery,
Smithsonian Magazine,
13 July 2021
Cite this Entry
“Heresy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heresy. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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