1
as in dissenter
a person who believes, teaches, or advocates something opposed to accepted beliefs
Galileo was condemned as a heretic for supporting Copernicus's thesis that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in maverick
a person who does not conform to generally accepted standards or customs
he's the ultimate heretic: a Yankees fan living deep in the heart of the Red Sox Nation
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Recent Examples of heretic
Added to that, in the eyes of Roman Catholic Europe—and many of her own subjects—the new Queen was a heretic.
—
Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025
Giordano Bruno, a like-minded heretic, already had been just a few years earlier.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2025
During the Middle Ages, the church endorsed the execution of heretics and held firm that secular authorities could and should put people to death for serious crimes.
—Austin Sarat, The Conversation, 9 July 2025
This approach demands that those who were once secular priests—the leaders of the philanthropic sector—abandon their cassocks and accept the mantle of the heretic.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for heretic
Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025
Giordano Bruno, a like-minded heretic, already had been just a few years earlier.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2025
During the Middle Ages, the church endorsed the execution of heretics and held firm that secular authorities could and should put people to death for serious crimes.
—Austin Sarat, The Conversation, 9 July 2025
This approach demands that those who were once secular priests—the leaders of the philanthropic sector—abandon their cassocks and accept the mantle of the heretic.
—Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for heretic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretic
Noun
-
Former Fed Governor Stephen Miran was among the dissenters in April, arguing that the Federal Open Market Committee should have lowered rates rather than held them steady.—
Jeff Cox,
CNBC,
17 June 2026
-
Moore and his fellow-Baptists were religious dissenters.—
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
Noun
-
Collins is a tough campaigner who can straddle the line as reliable party player and outspoken maverick.—
Julia Terruso,
Time,
8 June 2026
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Over his career, he was described as a blunt, independent, outspoken politician who was a maverick, boat-rocker, loose cannon, skilled partisan, and, above all, political survivor.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 June 2026
Noun
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Investigators probe whether Moscow ordered the brazen daylight killing in eastern Poland, now a key refuge for Russian and Belarusian dissidents and for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian war refugees.—
Vanessa Gera,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2026
-
Iran hawks and an array of dissidents and mainstream voices within the Republican Party have cast doubt on whether the agreement secured satisfactory concessions from Iran.—
Matthew Kelly
Updated June 18,
Kansas City Star,
18 June 2026
Noun
-
Moon was a trailblazer and iconoclast.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
3 June 2026
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Zulfi is an iconoclast and a hustler, a man who dreams of opening a Muslims-only version of Uber and who, even in the face of Shah’s elitism and English society’s broader wariness, holds onto an unshakable optimism.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
People didn’t come to the series with a working knowledge of the State Department, ready to see what the renegades were like.—
Debora Cahn,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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Young Julian might also be surprised by how your Corpus crew, which started kind of like a renegade group of friends, now has real community impact.—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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