Nearby Words
noun
1.
a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual.
2.
a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, plans, statements, or the character of others.
3.
a person who doubts the truth of a religion, especially Christianity, or of important elements of it.
4.
(initial capital letter) Philosophy.
a.
a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.
b.
any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility of real knowledge of any kind.
adjective
5.
pertaining to skeptics or skepticism; skeptical.
6.
(initial capital letter) pertaining to the Skeptics.
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Skeptic
is a GRE word you need to know.
So is anomaly. Does it mean:
| a deviation from the common rule or form; an odd or peculiar condition, situation, or quality |
| easily understood; completely intelligible or comprehensible |
Also, sceptic.
Origin:
1565–75; < Late Latin scepticus thoughtful, inquiring (in plural Scepticī the Skeptics) < Greek skeptikós, equivalent to sképt(esthai) to consider, examine (akin to skopeîn to look; see -scope) + -ikos -ic
1565–75; < Late Latin scepticus thoughtful, inquiring (in plural Scepticī the Skeptics) < Greek skeptikós, equivalent to sképt(esthai) to consider, examine (akin to skopeîn to look; see -scope) + -ikos -ic
Related forms
an·ti·skep·tic, noun
non·skep·tic, adjective, noun
Antonyms
3. believer.
3. believer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To skeptic
Example Sentences
- On the other hand, the skeptic in me can't stop thinking about how expensive a proposition this is.
- My own extensive research and reading puts me conclusively in the skeptic category.
- The auto industry had to dismiss him as a witness and bring in another climate skeptic scientist.
Collins
World English Dictionary
| skeptic (ˈskɛptɪk) | |
| —n, —adj | |
| an archaic, and the usual US, spelling of sceptic | |
| 'skeptical | |
| —adj | |
| 'skeptically | |
| —adv | |
| 'skepticalness | |
| —n | |
| 'skepticism | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
skeptic
1580s, "member of an ancient Gk. school that doubted the possibility of real knowledge," from Fr. sceptique, from L. scepticus, from Gk. skeptikos (pl. Skeptikoi "the Skeptics"), lit. "inquiring, reflective," the name taken by the disciples of the Gk. philosopher Pyrrho (c.360-c.270 B.C.E.), from skeptesthai
EXPAND"to reflect, look, view" (see scope (1)). The extended sense of "one with a doubting attitude" first recorded 1610s. The sk- spelling is an early 17c. Gk. revival and is preferred in U.S.
COLLAPSE
"Skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found." [Miguel de Unamuno, "Essays and Soliloquies," 1924]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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