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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

de·ism

Audio Help [dee-iz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation (distinguished from theism).

2.	belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.

[Origin: 1675–85; < F déisme < L de(us) god + F -isme -ism

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
deism

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

de·ism Audio Help (dē'ĭz'əm, dā'-) Pronunciation Key
n. The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.

[French déisme, from Latin deus, god; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots.]

de'ist n., de·is'tic adj., de·is'ti·cal·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
deism

1682 (deist is from 1621), from Fr. déisme, from L. deus "god." Until c.1700, opposed to atheism, in a sense where we would now use theism.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

deism
noun
the form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
deism [(dee-iz-uhm)]

The belief that God has created the universe but remains apart from it and permits his creation to administer itself through natural laws. Deism thus rejects the supernatural aspects of religion, such as belief in revelation in the Bible, and stresses the importance of ethical conduct. In the eighteenth century, numerous important thinkers held deist beliefs. (See clockwork universe.)

[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Deism

De"ism\ (d[=e]"[i^]z'm), n. [L. deus god: cf. F. d['e]isme. See Deity.] The doctrine or creed of a deist; the belief or system of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation.

Note: Deism is the belief in natural religion only, or those truths, in doctrine and practice, which man is to discover by the light of reason, independent of any revelation from God. Hence, deism implies infidelity, or a disbelief in the divine origin of the Scriptures.

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