NONRELIGIOUS Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

nonreligious

adjective

ˌnän-ri-ˈli-jəs

Definition of nonreligious

as in atheistic

lacking religious emotions, principles, or practices grew up in a nonreligious family

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in secular

not involving religion or religious matters a display of nonreligious holiday decorations on municipally owned property

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 nonreligious Florida statutes creating the charter school framework also require those schools to be nonreligious. — Gray Rohrer, Sun Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026 Republicans vow to appeal Arkansas ruling Last year, seven Arkansas families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. — Sara Cline, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2026 About 7 in 10 nonreligious voters supported Harris. — CBS News, 20 Mar. 2026 After her death, Begel found comfort in the Catholic faith after years of being nonreligious. — Sophie Carson, jsonline.com, 6 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for nonreligious

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonreligious

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

In August, the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas ordered the case be dismissed, saying secular courts cannot intervene in church governance.

— Andrea Lucia, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
An unshakable moat The industrial gas ecosystem is driven by broad secular trends, including the reshoring of manufacturing, advanced semiconductor nodes and carbon capture infrastructure.

— Harvey Stober, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of secular

Adjective

Because materialism had an irreligious connotation, Hattem says it was left out of the national conversation until the Gilded Age of the 1920s, when people start saying the quiet part out loud.

— Cari Shane, USA Today, 25 June 2026
This story is told by an unnamed narrator, an irreligious woman who has joined the nuns as a lay resident after her faith in environmental advocacy crumbled.

— Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2026

Definition of irreligious

Adjective

Curiously, cobalt was linked with a small rise in amyloid-beta proteins in the inferior temporal cortex.

— Mike McRae August 31, New Atlas, 1 Sep. 2026
The happy faces lit up their temporal cortex and caudate nucleus, which are parts of the brain associated with higher cognitive and reward processing.

— Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of temporal

Adjective

Up to that point, America’s external enemy—the godless Soviets—gave the movement coherence and urgency.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2026
Sometimes this was committed to good, such as the Marshall Plan and the Peace Corps, and sometimes to ill, as in a series of military blunders meant to quash godless Communism.

— Jim Rasenberger, The Atlantic, 4 July 2026

Definition of godless

Adjective

The expert was expected to say the positioning of the bodies, the branches on the remains, the outdoor location of the crime and knife wounds to the victims all were indications of pagan rituals.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026
Seeing those ancient sculptures would have a lasting impact on Cabrera, whose work contained forms that recall pagan ritual and prehistoric objects.

— Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 7 Sep. 2026