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agnostic

adj
/aɡˈnɒstɪk/UK/æɡˈnɑstɪk/CA/æɡˈnɔstɪk/

Etymology

Coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1870. Either from Ancient Greek ἄγνωστος (ágnōstos, “ignorant, not knowing”), or from a- + Gnostic, deriving (either way) from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “I know”).

  1. derived from ἀ- — “not”
  2. derived from ἄγνωστος — “ignorant, not knowing”

Definitions

  1. Doubtful or uncertain about the existence or demonstrability of God or other deity.

    • She left the church when she had become agnostic.

  2. Having no firmly held opinions on something.

    • I'm agnostic on whether ethanol is a green fuel.
    • He says he's agnostic concerning the Secretary's claims.

  3. Of or relating to agnosticism or its adherents.

    • His agnostic viewpoint is summarized in his book.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Unaware or noncommittal regarding the specific nature of the components or input with…

      Unaware or noncommittal regarding the specific nature of the components or input with which it interacts.

      • The socket communications layer is agnostic with regard to its underlying transport mechanism—it is “transport-agnostic”.
      • The software's registration key is platform agnostic and will work on both x86 and ARM processors.

    2. A person who holds to a form of agnosticism, especially uncertainty of the existence of a…

      A person who holds to a form of agnosticism, especially uncertainty of the existence of a deity.

      • The Agnostic is one who asserts—what no one denies—that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence.
      • An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned.
      • When I say I'm an agnostic, I only mean that the evidence isn't in. There isn't compelling evidence that God exists — at least your kind of god — and there isn't compelling evidence that he doesn't.

The neighborhood

Derived

agnostically, agnosticize, antiagnostic, anti-agnostic, language-agnostic, location-agnostic, nonagnostic, vendor agnostic, vendor-agnostic

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for agnostic. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA