Agnostic

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /aɡˈnɒstɪk/

Definitions

1. An individual who holds that the existence of a deity is unknown or cannot be proven ; showing no firm commitment to any specific belief or opinion
2. Someone who maintains that it is impossible to know whether God exists ; lacking dedication to any particular viewpoint or conviction
3. A person who is unsure or unconvinced about the existence of a higher power ; remaining neutral or noncommittal regarding beliefs or positions

Etymology: Thomas Henry Huxley coined "agnostic" in 1870, and he did it to name a position he had been defending for years rather than to describe a belief system. He drew on the Greek "agnostos," meaning "not known" or "unknown," which is built from the negative prefix "a-" and the verb "gignōskō," "I know." Huxley's coinage was partly a deliberate contrast with "Gnostic," the name of an early Christian movement that claimed special spiritual knowledge, so the new word was made to sound like its opposite in that respect. Huxley wanted a label for someone who claimed no certainty either way about the ultimate questions of existence. In his telling, the term described a method, a refusal to assert what could not be demonstrated, rather than a creed with doctrines of its own. Because of this, the word has always been slightly awkward: it names a stance on knowledge, while most people use it to describe a stance on belief.

Synonyms: skeptic, doubter, questioner, unbeliever, nontheist

Antonyms: believer, theist, faithful, devotee, zealot