Crossword clues for sceptic
sceptic
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Skeptic \Skep"tic\, n. [Gr. skeptiko`s thoughtful, reflective, fr. ske`ptesqai to look carefully or about, to view, consider: cf. L. scepticus, F. sceptique. See Scope.]
One who is yet undecided as to what is true; one who is looking or inquiring for what is true; an inquirer after facts or reasons.
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(Metaph.) A doubter as to whether any fact or truth can be certainly known; a universal doubter; a Pyrrhonist; hence, in modern usage, occasionally, a person who questions whether any truth or fact can be established on philosophical grounds; sometimes, a critical inquirer, in opposition to a dogmatist.
All this criticism [of Hume] proceeds upon the erroneous hypothesis that he was a dogmatist. He was a skeptic; that is, he accepted the principles asserted by the prevailing dogmatism: and only showed that such and such conclusions were, on these principles, inevitable.
--Sir W. Hamilton. -
(Theol.) A person who doubts the existence and perfections of God, or the truth of revelation; one who disbelieves the divine origin of the Christian religion.
Suffer not your faith to be shaken by the sophistries of skeptics.
--S. Clarke.Note: This word and its derivatives are often written with c instead of k in the first syllable, -- sceptic, sceptical, scepticism, etc. Dr. Johnson, struck with the extraordinary irregularity of giving c its hard sound before e, altered the spelling, and his example has been followed by most of the lexicographers who have succeeded him; yet the prevalent practice among English writers and printers is in favor of the other mode. In the United States this practice is reversed, a large and increasing majority of educated persons preferring the orthography which is most in accordance with etymology and analogy.
Syn: Infidel; unbeliever; doubter. -- See Infidel.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
chiefly British English spelling of skeptic (q.v.). Related: Sceptical; sceptically; scepticism.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 Someone who is undecided as to what is true and enquires after facts. 2 Someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs and claims presented by others, requiring strong evidence before accepting any belief or claim. n. 1 Someone who is undecided as to what is true and enquires after facts. 2 Someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs and claims presented by others, requiring strong evidence before accepting any belief or claim.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Sceptic is a Polish death metal band from Kraków, Poland.
Sceptic is a Polish death metal band founded in 1994 by Jacek Hiro. Marcin Urbaś (one of the fastest 200 meter sprinters) handled the vocal duties for the first and third album ( Blind Existence (1999) and Unbeliever's Script (2003)), but currently is a session member due to his sport career. Weronika Zbieg from the Polish death/thrash band Totem handled the lead vocal duty on the latest album, Internal Complexity (2005).
Usage examples of "sceptic".
MINUET Great misfortunes do not affect me very much, said John Bridelle, an old bachelor who passed for a sceptic.
I was amused at the false reports which were being circulated about me, and, I became from that moment a thorough sceptic on the subject of historical truth.
The infallible literalist, and the no less dogmatic sceptic, are equally presumptuous in forecast of the third.
Reason here seems to be thrown into a kind of amazement and suspence, which, without the suggestions of any sceptic, gives her a diffidence of herself, and of the ground on which she treads.
Without command, moving like a shoal of fish without a leader but with as ingle purpose, laughing sceptic ally or shouting speculation and comment and query, brandishing shields and ancient firearms, the women clutching their infants, and the older children dancing around them or darting ahead, the shapeless mob streamed out of the broken ground and down into the saucer-shaped valley of the wells.
Sceptics, or decide with the Stoics, sublimely speculate with Plato, or severely argue with Aristotle.
There are certainly some sceptics who laugh at me, but I let them talk.
But as soon as they leave the shade, and by the presence of the real objects, which actuate our passions and sentiments, are put in opposition to the more powerful principles of our nature, they vanish like smoke, and leave the most determined sceptic in the same condition as other mortals.
What rewards are religious sceptics given by the established religions - or, for that matter, social and economic sceptics by the society in which they swim?
Inveterate sceptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result.
Occasionally they threaten sceptics with the direst imaginable penalties.
And, it must be said, some scientists and dedicated sceptics apply this tool as a blunt instrument, with little finesse.
Indeed, on most TV documentaries and talk shows, sceptics get short shrift and almost no air time.
We are not anxious to preserve the memory of such sceptics, much less their ideas.
This is a topic, therefore, in which the profounder and more philosophical sceptics will always triumph, when they endeavour to introduce an universal doubt into all subjects of human knowledge and enquiry.