agnostic

English

WOTD – 8 July 2007

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /aɡˈnɒstɪk/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /æɡˈnɑstɪk/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Audio (New Jersey):

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /æɡˈnɔstɪk/

  • Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɒstɪk

Adjective

agnostic (comparative more agnostic, superlative most agnostic)

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

   She left the church when she had become agnostic.

2. (informal, usually with a prepositional phrase) 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.

   • 1889, Thomas Henry Huxley, Agnosticism‎^[1]:

     In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him.

4. (computing, of a software component etc.) 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.

Hyponyms

• view agnostic (computing)

Derived terms

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

 

Related terms

• agnosticism
• apatheism
• gnostic
• ignostic
• ignosticism

 

Translations

of or relating to agnosticism

• Arabic: لَاأَدْرِيّ m (lā-ʔadriyy)
• Asturian: agnósticu
• Basque: agnostiko
• Belarusian: агнасты́чны (ahnastýčny)
• Catalan: agnòstic (ca)
• Dutch: agnostisch (nl)
• Esperanto: agnostika
• Finnish: agnostinen (fi)
• French: agnostique (fr) m or f
• Galician: agnóstico
• Georgian: აგნოსტიკური (agnosṭiḳuri)
• German: agnostisch (de), skeptisch (de)
• Hindi: अज्ञेयवादी (hi) (ajñeyvādī)
• Ido: agnostika (io)
• Indonesian: agnostik (id)
• Irish: agnóisíoch
• Italian: agnostico (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: agnostisk (no)

  Nynorsk: agnostisk

• Polish: agnostyczny (pl) m, agnostycystyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: agnóstico (pt)
• Russian: агности́ческий (ru) (agnostíčeskij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: агно̀стичкӣ

  Roman: agnòstičkī (sh)

• Spanish: agnóstico (es)
• Swedish: agnostisk (sv)
• Turkish: agnostik (tr), agnostisizmle ilgili, bilinmezci, bilinmezcilikle ilgili, şüpheci (tr)
• Ukrainian: агности́чний (uk) (ahnostýčnyj)

Noun

agnostic (plural agnostics)

1. A person who holds to a form of agnosticism, especially uncertainty of the existence of a deity.
   • 1876 June 1, Leslie Stephen, “An Agnostic's Apology”, in The Forthnightly Review‎^[2], volume 25/19, number 114, page 840:

     The Agnostic is one who asserts—what no one denies—that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence.

   • 1953 November 3, Bertrand Russell, “What is an Agnostic?”, in Look‎^[3]:

     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.

   • 1985, Carl Sagan, Contact: a novel, New York: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 175:

     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.

Coordinate terms

• (religionists) religionist; agnostic,‎ Asatruar,‎ atheist,‎ Baháʼí,‎ Buddhist,‎ Christian,‎ deist,‎ Druid,‎ Druze,‎ Eckist,‎ heathen,‎ Hindu,‎ Jain,‎ Jedi,‎ Jew,‎ Mormon,‎ Mormonist,‎ Muslim,‎ Odinist,‎ pagan,‎ Pastafarian,‎ Quaker,‎ Raëlian,‎ Rastafarian,‎ Rodnover,‎ Samaritan,‎ Shintoist,‎ Sikh,‎ Taoist,‎ Unitarian Universalist,‎ Wiccan,‎ Yahwist,‎ Yazidi,‎ Zoroastrian ^{(Category: en:Religion) [edit]}

Translations

one who holds to a form of agnosticism.

• Afrikaans: agnostikus, agnostici pl
• Arabic: لَاأَدْرِيّ m (lā-ʔadriyy)
• Armenian: ագնոստիկ (hy) (agnostik)
• Asturian: agnósticu m
• Basque: agnostiko
• Belarusian: агно́стык m (ahnóstyk)
• Bengali: অজ্ঞেয়বাদ (bn) (ojneẏobad)
• Bulgarian: агности́к m (agnostík)
• Catalan: agnòstic (ca) m
• Czech: agnostik (cs) m
• Danish: agnostiker (da) c
• Dutch: agnosticus (nl)
• Esperanto: agnostikulo
• Faroese: agnostikari
• Finnish: agnostikko (fi)
• French: agnostique (fr)
• Galician: agnóstico m
• Georgian: აგნოსტიკი (agnosṭiḳi)
• German: Agnostiker (de) m, Agnostikerin (de) f
• Greek: μεταφυσικός αγνωστικός m (metafysikós agnostikós), μεταφυσική αγνωστική f (metafysikí agnostikí), μεταφυσικό αγνωστικό n (metafysikó agnostikó), αγνωστικιστής (el) m (agnostikistís), αγνωστικίστρια (el) f (agnostikístria)
• Ido: agnostikisto (io), agnostiko
• Indonesian: orang agnostik, agnostik (id)
• Irish: agnóisí m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: agnostiker (no) m

• Polish: agnostyk (pl) m, agnostyczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: agnóstico (pt) m, agnóstica f
• Romanian: agnostic (ro) m, agnostică (ro) f
• Russian: агно́стик (ru) m (agnóstik)
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-adhbharachais m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: агно̀стик m, агно̀стича̄р m

  Roman: agnòstik (sh) m, agnòstičār (sh) m

• Spanish: agnóstico (es) m, agnóstica (es) f
• Swedish: agnostiker (sv)
• Turkish: bilinemezci (tr)
• Ukrainian: агно́стик (uk) m (ahnóstyk)

See also

• atheist
• sceptic (Mainly UK & Commonwealth), skeptic (Mainly US)
• Appendix:Glossary of philosophical isms

References

• Agnosticism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Costigan, angio-CTs, coasting, coatings, cotingas, scoating

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French agnostique. Equivalent to a- +‎ gnostic.

Noun

agnostic m (plural agnostici)

1. agnostic

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	agnostic	agnosticul		agnostici	agnosticii
genitive-dative	agnostic	agnosticului		agnostici	agnosticilor
vocative	agnosticule			agnosticilor