doctrine Hear it!

doctrine Definition

doc·trine (däk′trin)

noun

  1. something taught; teachings
  2. something taught as the principles or creed of a religion, political party, etc.; tenet or tenets; belief; dogma
  3. a rule, theory, or principle of law
  4. ☆ an official statement of a nation's policy, esp. toward other nations the Monroe Doctrine

Etymology: ME < L doctrina < doctor: see doctor

doctrine Related Forms
doc′·tri·nal (-tri nəl) adjective doc′·tri·nally adverb
doctrine Synonyms

doctrine

n.

  1. A statement of position or belief

    tenet, principle, proposition, precept, article, concept, conviction, dogma, position, opinion, belief, theory, convention, established position, policy, attitude, tradition, unwritten law, universal law, natural law, common law, teachings, accepted belief, article of faith, article of belief, canon, regulation, rule, pronouncement, declaration, bull; see also law 2, 4.

  2. Several tenets built into a faith

    dogma, creed, gospel; see faith 2.

doctrine refers to a theory based on carefully worked out principles and taught or advocated by its adherents scientific or social doctrines; dogma refers to a belief or doctrine that is handed down by authority as true and indisputable, and may connote arbitrariness, arrogance, etc. religious dogma; tenet connotes a component belief or principle of a system or theory the tenets of a political party; precept refers to an injunction or dogma intended as a rule of action or conduct to teach by example rather than by precept

doctrine Law Definition

n

A widely accepted legal tenet.
doctrine Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • trinity: The Apostle Paul also affirms the doctrine of the Trinity.
  • atonement: Also it is unclear to me to what extent the doctrine of the Atonement depends on Jesus ' state of knowledge.
  • inerrancy: The doctrine of inerrancy grew out of an apologetic need.
  • predestination: The strong doctrine of predestination must be set against the voluntarism mentioned above.
  • pre-emption: That said, the Iraq experience seems to place the Bush doctrine of pre-emption firmly in a box marked ' bad ideas ' .
  • justification: At the heart of Luther's theology was the doctrine of justification through faith.

Converse of object

  • preach: Does not the five wounds of His blessed body preach this doctrine to love Him?
  • adorn: We want to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
  • affirm: The Apostle Paul also affirms the doctrine of the Trinity.
  • uphold: I have promised to uphold the doctrine of the Church of England in which scripture is supreme; I hope I shall do so.
  • teach: I do not, however, mean to teach new doctrine.

Adjective modifier

  • biblical: Hence, the key elements of the Biblical doctrine of salvation are excluded from the Islamic idea.
  • Catholic: As head of the Church the Pope possesses supreme power to declare Catholic doctrine.
  • orthodox: The legacy of The Fundamentals was to impart orthodox doctrine among conservative Protestants.
  • false: A lot of false doctrine, a lot of false prophets.
  • esoteric: B n. 1 A person initiated into esoteric doctrines.

Noun used with modifier

  • Buddhist: This opinion is, no doubt, due to a comparison with the Buddhist doctrine of nirvana.
  • deterrence: In theory at least this allowed for the hope that as nonproliferation succeeded so the salience of nuclear deterrence doctrine would whither.
  • reformation: Some believe that the Reformation doctrine of extrinsic justification has been compromised within Reformed circles by the downplaying of the objectivity of the sacraments.
doctrine Quotes

Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. The purpose shall be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.

—Marshall, George C(atlett)

Nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world; that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraidöthe little along with the great and powerful. Those are American principles, American policies.We could stand for no others. Theyare also the principles of mankind, and must prevail.

—Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place.

—Warren, Earl

Anti-classic art, if it may even be called an art, is merely theart oftheidle.It isthe doctrine ofthosewho desireto produce without working, to know without learning.

—Ingres,Jean Auguste Dominique

Give ear,O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear,O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon thetender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   I never was attached to that great sect, Whose doctrine is that each one should select Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend, And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend To cold oblivion.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Promiscuous reading is necessary to the constituting of human nature. The attempt to keep out evil doctrine by licensing is like the exploit of that gallant man who thought to keep out the crows by shutting the park gate.

—Milton,John

The nuttis schell, thocht it be hard and teuch, Haldis the kirnell, sueit and delectabill; Sa lyis thair ane doctrine wyse aneuch And full of frute vnder ane fenyeit fabill.

—Henryson, Robert

As some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there.

—Pope, Alexander

In the western hemisphere, the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.

—Roosevelt,Theodore

Est-ce qu'au fond, ce qui fait peur, dans la doctrine que je vais essayer de vous exposer, ce n'est pas le fait qu'elle laisse une possibilite¤   de choix a'   l'homme? For at bottom, what is alarming in the doctrine that I am about to try to explain to you isöis it not?öthat it confronts man with a possibility of choice.

—Sartre,Jean-Paul

Example moves the world more than doctrine.

—Miller, Henry Valentine