variants also heretic
as in dissident
deviating from commonly accepted beliefs or practices the belief that women should be allowed to have careers outside the home was once considered heretical

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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 heretical Church leaders understood these views to be heretical or pagan, reflecting pride and a lack of gratitude to God. Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 4 Aug. 2025 Combining the trademark flavors of Philadelphia, Atlanta, upstate New York and the Midwest feels almost heretical yet totally works here. Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 3 Aug. 2025 The heretical event was eclipsed only by the Cayenne SUV’s debut in 2002. Robert Ross, Robb Report, 1 Aug. 2025 Also, Shamblin Lara came under fire in 2000 within conventional evangelical circles for promoting heretical views about the Trinity. Liam Adams, The Tennessean, 22 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for heretical
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretical
Adjective
  • The recipient was the dissident theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had been imprisoned several months earlier, on account of his opposition to the Nazi regime.
    Alex Ross, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Among them were 17 members of the Iranian dissident organization Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).
    Beth Bailey, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Board member Renee Paschall cast the lone dissenting vote on the final package.
    Elizabeth Sander, San Antonio Express-News, 19 Aug. 2022
  • The document runs to more than a hundred and fifty pages, and for each question there are affirmative and dissenting studies, as well as some that indicate mixed results.
    The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 3 June 2022
Adjective
  • The combination of a conservative politician with a rock-and-roll past — Japan’s first female prime minister behind a drum kit and once on a bike — has helped shape her public image as both disciplined and unconventional.
    Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2025
  • OpenAI has unconventional roots.
    Nikita Ostrovsky, Time, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • That group — which also included voices from prominent genre brands like Vinegar Syndrome, Fangoria, MPI Media, Alter, and more — toasted not just the scariest cinema but the most out-there media of all kinds.
    Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Every Tuesday, a corner of the Mezquitán market turns into a massive secondhand clothing bazaar, with heaps of statement vintage finds and out-there patterned fabrics spread out over long tables.
    David Shortell, Travel + Leisure, 28 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Heretical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretical. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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