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
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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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Examples of heretic in a Sentence
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Such behavior resulted in Pope Innocent III’s papal push to exterminate these heretics—leading to a slaughter of between a quarter and a million Cathars in the 13th century during the Albigensian crusade.
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Tom Mullen, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
The heathen is the enemy, but the heretic is something worse, a traitor.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 11 Feb. 2024
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
General Suleimani had directed the crucial role played by Iran and its allies in the military defeat in Syria and Iraq of the Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that sees Iran’s Shiite Muslim majority as heretics.
—Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heretic 
Tom Mullen, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
The heathen is the enemy, but the heretic is something worse, a traitor.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 11 Feb. 2024
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
General Suleimani had directed the crucial role played by Iran and its allies in the military defeat in Syria and Iraq of the Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that sees Iran’s Shiite Muslim majority as heretics.
—Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for heretic
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heretic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
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