skeptic
pronunciation
How to pronounce skeptic in British English:
UK [ˈskeptɪk]
How to pronounce skeptic in American English:
US [ˈskeptɪk]
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- Noun:
- someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs
Word Origin
- skeptic (n.)
- also sceptic, 1580s, "member of an ancient Greek school that doubted the possibility of real knowledge," from Middle French sceptique and directly from Latin scepticus "the sect of the Skeptics," from Greek skeptikos (plural Skeptikoi "the Skeptics, followers of Pyrrho"), noun use of adjective meaning "inquiring, reflective" (the name taken by the disciples of the Greek philosopher Pyrrho, who lived c. 360-c. 270 B.C.E.), related to skeptesthai "to reflect, look, view" (see scope (n.1)). 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] The extended sense of "one with a doubting attitude" first recorded 1610s. The sk- spelling is an early 17c. Greek revival and is preferred in U.S. As a verb, scepticize (1690s) failed to catch on.
Example
- 1. How does one turn from skeptic to believer ?
- 2. Graham started off as a real skeptic but quickly turned around .
- 3. Sci the skeptic strikes again .
- 4. Wired : you became an atheist and a skeptic at a young age .
- 5. My eldest daughter , lucy , is a natural-born skeptic .