religion
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒən/
rhymes: -ɪdʒən
Forms: form: religions
form: Religion
Etymology: From Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religiō (“scrupulousness, pious misgivings, superstition, conscientiousness, sanctity, an object of veneration, cult-observance, reverence”). Most likely from the Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg- with the meanings preserved in Latin dīligere and legere (“to read repeatedly”, “to have something solely in mind”). Displaced Old English ǣfæstnes (“religion, lawfulness”).
Senses: examples: text: Holonyms: cosmology, ontology, epistemology, philosophy
text: My brother tends to value religion, but my sister not as much.
text: Most books on the philosophy of religion try to begin with a precise definition of what its essence consists of. […] I shall not be pedantic enough to enumerate any of them to you now. Meanwhile the very fact that they are so many and so different from one another is enough to prove that the word “religion” cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather a collective name.
ref: 1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:
text: Phallicism was, therefore, at the root of all religion, and was definitely the opponent of evil and darkness.
ref: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 160:
text: Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather, religion is the form spirituality takes in a civilization; it is not so much the opiate of the masses as it is the antidote for the poisons of civilization.
ref: 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 103:
synonyms: theism
;
faith
;
belief
antonyms: nonreligion
nonreligiousness
;
nonbelief
unbelief
;
irreligion
irreligiousness
;
atheism
;
antitheism
antireligion
antireligiousness
hypernyms: belief system
coordinate_terms: agnosticism
;
transtheism
;
apatheism
;
ignosticism
igtheism
;
empiricism
science
glosses: Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief.
examples: text: Holonyms: cosmology, ontology, epistemology, philosophy
text: Near-synonyms: credo, creed
text: Islam is a major religion, particularly in North Africa and Southwest Asia.
text: Mormonism is a new religion, while Zoroastrianism is an old one.
text: Ignorant and ſuperſtitious wretches meaſure the actions of letterd and philoſophical men by the tattle of their nurſes or illiterate parents and companions, or by the faſhion of the country: and people of differing religions judge and condemn each other by their own tenents; when both of them cannot be in the right, and it is well if either of them are.
ref: 1722, William Wollaston, “Sect. V. Truths relating to the Deity. Of his exiſtence, perfection, providence, &c.”, in The Religion of Nature Delineated, page 81:
text: “It is the duty of a high priestess to instruct, to interpret—according to the creed that others, wiser than herself, have laid down; but there is nothing in the creed which says that she must believe. The more one knows of one’s religion the less one believes—no one living knows more of mine than I.”
ref: 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 184:
text: Priest: I wasn't being rude.
Father: Just bear in mind that there are plenty of other religions you know. Some of them, I may say, offering much greater range and value.
ref: 1989 February 10, Stephen Fry et al., “Christening”, in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, season 1, episode 5:
synonyms: faith
hypernyms: belief system
glosses: A particular system of such belief, and the rituals and practices proper to it.
examples: text: The monk entered religion when he was 20 years of age.
glosses: The way of life committed to by monks and nuns.
examples: text: I think some Christians would love Jesus more if they weren't so stuck in religion.
text: Jack's spiritual, but he's not really into religion.
synonyms: word: superstition
glosses: Rituals and actions associated with religious beliefs, but considered apart from them.
examples: text: At this point, Star Trek has really become a religion.
text: 'Religion can't exist without mystery, especially science, the newest religion.'
ref: 1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 97:
glosses: Any practice to which someone or some group is seriously devoted.
examples: text: Oh with what religion doe I respect and observe the same!
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
glosses: Faithfulness to a given principle; conscientiousness.
Synonyms: word: faith
word: religion
Hyponyms: word: Abrahamic religion
word: African traditional religion
word: extraterrestrial religion
word: false religion
word: folk religion
word: hyper-real religion
word: hyperreal religion
word: Indic religion
word: institutional religion
word: Native American religion
word: organized religion
word: paganism
word: revealed religion
word: Shenism
word: state religion
word: UFO religion
word: world religion
word: Asatru
word: Baháʼí Faith
word: Buddhism
word: Cao Dai
word: Christianity
word: Confucianism
word: Dodecatheism
word: Druidry
word: Eckankar
word: Hellenism
word: Hinduism
word: Islam
word: Jainism
word: Juche
word: Judaism
word: LaVeyan Satanism
word: New Age
word: Olympianism
word: Rastafarianism
word: Raëlism
word: Rodnovery
word: Scientology
word: Shinto
word: Sikhism
word: Spiritism
word: Taoism
word: Tenrikyo
word: Unitarian Universalism
word: Wicca
word: Yoruba
word: Zoroastrianism
word: humanism
Meronyms: word: believer
word: clergy
Derived terms: American civil religion
antireligion
conreligion
counterreligion
find religion
freedom of religion
get religion
irreligious
lip religion
misreligion
natural religion
neo-religion
nonreligion
parareligion
pseudoreligion
religicide
religiofascist
religofascist
religionary
religionism
religionist
religionistic
religionization
religionize
religionless
religionlike
religion of peace
religion of piss
religionwise
religiose
religious
religism
religist
religitard
religtard
self religion
self-religion
subreligion
unreligion
urreligion
war of religion
Related terms: antireligious
organized religion
religiophobia
religiopolitical
religiosity