heathen5 definitions found heathen - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 : Heathen \Hea"then\ (h[=e]"[th]'n; 277), n.; pl. Heathens (-[th]'nz) or collectively Heathen. [OE. hethen, AS. h[=ae][eth]en, prop. an adj. fr. h[=ae][eth] heath, and orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin to OS. h[=e][eth]in, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide, OHG. heidan, Icel. hei[eth]inn, adj., Sw. heden, Goth. hai[thorn]n[=o], n. fem. See Heath, and cf. Hoiden.] 1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater. [1913 Webster] 2. An irreligious person. [1913 Webster] If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. --V. Knox. [1913 Webster] The heathen, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all people except the Jews; now used of all people except Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. [1913 Webster] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. --Ps. ii. 8. Syn: Pagan; gentile. See Pagan. [1913 Webster] Heathen \Hea"then\ (h[=e]"[th]'n), a. 1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. "The heathen philosopher." "All in gold, like heathen gods." --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish. [1913 Webster] 3. Irreligious; scoffing. [1913 Webster] heathen - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) : heathen adj 1: not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam [syn: heathen, heathenish, pagan, ethnic] n 1: a person who does not acknowledge your god [syn: heathen, pagan, gentile, infidel] heathen - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary : Heathen (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word _goyim_ denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other _goyim_. They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23; 26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites, Hittites, etc., were the _goyim_, the heathen, with whom the Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1 Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps. 9:5, 15, 17). The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, _ethne_, has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion. heathen - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 : 93 Moby Thesaurus words for "heathen": Gothic, Philistine, agnostic, allotheist, allotheistic, animist, animistic, atheist, atheistic, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, bibliolatrous, bookless, chthonian, deceived, disbeliever, disbelieving, doubting, ethnic, faithless, fetishistic, functionally illiterate, gentile, godless, grammarless, heathenish, heretic, heretical, hoodwinked, idol worshiping, idolater, idolatress, idolatric, idolatrical, idolatrous, idolistic, ill-educated, illiterate, infidel, infidelic, irreligious, led astray, lowbrow, minimifidian, misinformed, misinstructed, mistaught, nonbeliever, nonintellectual, nullifidian, pagan, paganish, paganistic, pagano-Christian, pantheistic, polytheist, polytheistic, primitive, profane, rude, savage, sceptic, sceptical, secularist, unbeliever, unbelieving, unbooked, unbookish, unbooklearned, unbriefed, unchristian, uncivilized, uncultivated, uncultured, unedified, uneducated, unenlightened, unerudite, unguided, uninstructed, unintellectual, unlearned, unlettered, unliterary, unread, unrefined, unscholarly, unschooled, unstudious, untaught, untutored, zoolatrous |