agnostic
ag·nos·tic (ag näs′tik)
noun
a person who believes that the human mind cannot know whether there is a God or an ultimate cause, or anything beyond material phenomena
Etymology: coined (1870) by Thomas Henry Huxley < a- + gnostic
adjective
of or characteristic of an agnostic or agnosticism
Converse of object
- remain: The Party remains agnostic over the exact choice of reference period for calculating working hours.
- become: Edward Jones became an agnostic, & art replaced religion in his life.
- include: Pupils will learn about other faith's marriage ceremonies including agnostics.
Preposition: on
- question: She is an agnostic on the question of whether this transformation was ' for good or ill ' ( p. 6 ).
- issue: Searle accepts that the brain is a machine and is agnostic on the issue of whether one could be created.
Adjective modifier
- lifelong: To start with, she was a lifelong agnostic.
Modifies a noun
- attitude: Nor does the agnostic attitude mean that it is equally probable whether the mind is or is not a spirit.
- position: Others have agnostic positions or want to acquire more evidence.
- humanist: True, there are loyal supporters of the Conservative cause today who would describe themselves as agnostic humanists.
- view: Thus UDDI does not match IESR's more agnostic view of the registration of a multitude of service protocols.
- imperative: If James is correct, then the agnostic imperative is false.
- historian: Included below are books by agnostic historians as well as specialist New Testament scholars.
Modifying Another Word
- not: I have no reason to believe there is a God, therefore I'm not agnostic, I'm an atheist.
- rather: Perhaps that meets my demand for a cautious and rather agnostic theology rather well.
Noun used with modifier
- hardware: About Amiga Amiga Inc. provides technology to developers for writing and porting applications to a new multi-media operating system which is hardware agnostic.
- platform: Mail account or your AOL account - I'd expect it to be platform agnostic.
- carrier: FreeBe TV mobile is carrier agnostic and can be accessed from 21 mobile phones with WAP-enabled capabilities.
Used with adjective complement
- remain: The UK Monetary Policy Committee remains largely agnostic on the New Economy.
Preposition: with
- respect: Otherwise, let those who call themselves agnostic with respect to religion add that they are equally agnostic about orbiting teapots.
Most of my colleagues were -ists of one sort or another; and however kind and friendly they might be, I, the man without a rag of a label to cover himself with, could not fail to have some of theuneasy feelings which must have beset the historical fox when, after leaving the trap in which his tail remained, he presented himself to his normally elongated companions. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic'.
