as in gentile
a person who does not worship the God of the Bible
the temple was built by pagans in the 4th century as a place to worship their idols
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as in secular
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Recent Examples of pagan
Atlanta Life, ajc, 10 Nov. 2017
While plague stalks the land, paranoid peasants swap cautionary folk tales about evil spirits, pagans, Jews and other outsiders.
—Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2017
Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of Englandand established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans.
—Jonah Goldberg, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 Sep. 2017
Lance Wallnau, a Christian author, claimed God spoke to him and showed him that Trump was like King Cyrus, who followed God’s will despite being a pagan.
—Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2017
To do Trumpzilla justice, the film should be blustery, spectacular, gold-garish, and neo-pagan, a Circus Maximus Cecil B. DeMille might have whipped up with his riding crop after a fever dream.
—James Wolcott, HWD, 19 June 2017
Kristine Phillips, The Indianapolis Star, 13 Nov. 2024
There’s a lot of folklore, superstition and myth — pagan elements really, that are folded into how people actually practice religion in Ireland.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Overshadowing the square, the Gothic St. Rumbold’s Cathedral was built between 1200 and 1520 to house the remains of local saint Rumbold, who, in the sixth century, converted pagan German tribes to Christianity.
—Barbara Noe Kennedy, Travel + Leisure, 18 June 2024
Baldwin and Rozzi had alleged that members of Odinism, a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists, are the real killers who ritually sacrificed the teens ― a theory that Allen's new defense team believes has merit.
—The Indianapolis Star, 12 Jan. 2024
The Prophet Muhammad, having conquered all of Arabia in 630, clearing Mecca of its pagan idols in the process, went back two years later on a triumphant pilgrimage.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Freud died the next day, surrounded by his pagan gods.
—Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 23 June 2023
Noun
Church officials decided to recognize Dec. 25 as his birthday, probably to coincide with the date of pagan festivals in an attempt to get pagans to accept Christianity as the official religion.
—Atlanta Life, ajc, 10 Nov. 2017
While plague stalks the land, paranoid peasants swap cautionary folk tales about evil spirits, pagans, Jews and other outsiders.
—Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2017
Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of Englandand established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans.
—Jonah Goldberg, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 Sep. 2017
Lance Wallnau, a Christian author, claimed God spoke to him and showed him that Trump was like King Cyrus, who followed God’s will despite being a pagan.
—Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2017
To do Trumpzilla justice, the film should be blustery, spectacular, gold-garish, and neo-pagan, a Circus Maximus Cecil B. DeMille might have whipped up with his riding crop after a fever dream.
—James Wolcott, HWD, 19 June 2017
Adjective
Allen's defense team aggressively pushed their theory that Odinists, members of a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists, killed the girls during a sacrificial ritual in the woods.
—Kristine Phillips, The Indianapolis Star, 13 Nov. 2024
There’s a lot of folklore, superstition and myth — pagan elements really, that are folded into how people actually practice religion in Ireland.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Overshadowing the square, the Gothic St. Rumbold’s Cathedral was built between 1200 and 1520 to house the remains of local saint Rumbold, who, in the sixth century, converted pagan German tribes to Christianity.
—Barbara Noe Kennedy, Travel + Leisure, 18 June 2024
Baldwin and Rozzi had alleged that members of Odinism, a pagan Norse religion hijacked by white nationalists, are the real killers who ritually sacrificed the teens ― a theory that Allen's new defense team believes has merit.
—The Indianapolis Star, 12 Jan. 2024
The Prophet Muhammad, having conquered all of Arabia in 630, clearing Mecca of its pagan idols in the process, went back two years later on a triumphant pilgrimage.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Freud died the next day, surrounded by his pagan gods.
—Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 23 June 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pagan
Noun
-
Consider the righteous gentiles during the Holocaust—ordinary people who risked everything to protect Jews from Nazi extermination—and Soviet dissidents who challenged the communist regime, to name a few.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2025
-
Public debate heated up in 2020 and by 2024, nearly everyone had made the switch: Jews and gentiles; academics and journalists; government officials and private citizens; right-wingers and left-wingers.—
Asaf Elia-Shalev,
Sun Sentinel,
17 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
But Roth argued that allowing groups like Catholic Charities to qualify — where their work is largely identical to secular groups in the state — could incentivize states to cut back on religious accommodations altogether.—
Ella Lee,
The Hill,
31 Mar. 2025
-
But Pew also found in a separate survey that more than one in five Israeli Jews had switched between Jewish religious sectors — going from secular to religious Zionist, for example, or traditional to haredi Orthodox.—
Grace Gilson,
Sun Sentinel,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The ranks of the godless have stopped growing for now.—
Lauren Jackson,
New York Times,
26 Feb. 2025
-
Compared with the heavenly bliss promised at the end of Revelation, Byron’s godless planet was bleak stuff indeed.—
Jennifer Szalai,
New York Times,
22 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
After all, Isaacs was raised Jewish though concedes today to being a sort of spiritual atheist.—
Charlie Campbell / Koh Samui,
TIME,
14 Feb. 2025
-
The lawsuit, filed in October 2024, includes 32 plaintiffs from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds—including Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, atheists, agnostics, and Indigenous community members.—
Russel Honoré,
Newsweek,
5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Finishing off the top 5 is religious flick The Forge with an irreligious weekend take-home of $6.6.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
25 Aug. 2024
-
From its earliest days in the nineteenth century and until the Holocaust, the Orthodox rabbinate in eastern Europe was not enthusiastic about the Zionist movement, which at the time was led by irreligious Jews.—
Elliott Abrams,
Foreign Affairs,
1 July 2011
Adjective
-
The following year, city and state education officials determined that 18 Hasidic yeshivas were not providing a basic nonreligious education.—
Eliza Shapiro,
New York Times,
21 Feb. 2025
-
Those of us who are religious must stand with our religious and nonreligious neighbors to have the moral imagination to cast visions for a world where political solutions are our friends and companion — not violence.—
Austin American-Statesman,
Austin American-Statesman,
6 Mar. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Pagan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pagan. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
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