What (who) is heathen - definition
WIKIMEDIA DISAMBIGUATION PAGE
Heathens; Heathen (disambiguation); Heathen (album)
heathen
I. n.
Gentile, pagan.
II. a.
See heathenish.
Heathen
·pl of Heathen.
II. Heathen ·adj Irreligious; scoffing.
III. Heathen ·noun An irreligious person.
IV. Heathen ·adj Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.
V. Heathen ·adj Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author.
VI. Heathen ·noun An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an Idolater.
heathen
['hi:?(?)n]
¦ noun derogatory
1. a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially Christianity, Judaism, or Islam) as regarded by those who do.
2. informal a person lacking culture or moral principles.
¦ adjective relating to heathens.
Derivatives
heathendom noun
heathenish adjective
heathenism noun
Origin
OE hthen, prob. from a Gmc adjective meaning 'inhabiting open country, savage', from the base of heath.
Pronunciation examples for heathen
1. Heathen.
Ex-Gay Ministries _ Samuel Brinton _ Talks at Google
2. for three bags of gold from heathen invaders, heathen
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms _ Claire Breay, Simon Keynes, Joanna Story _ Talks at Google
3. That's right heathen bastards.
A Fistful of Dynamite (Duck, You Sucker)
4. in her heathen orthodoxy, that he said bound Chinese people
The Chinese Lady _ Nancy E. Davis _ Talks at Google
5. So the heathen gods
placed upon the gold...
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Examples of use of heathen
1. I thought he was a heathen, and I suspect the feeling was mutual.
2. "I didn‘t storm in and say, ‘Right, you‘re a bunch of heathen sinners‘," he recalls.
3. So too was decking the halls with boughs of holly, a heathen practice.
4. He prefers not to use heathen or pagan as adjectives because, he said, both terms carry too much baggage.
5. "Born Again Atheist," "Happy Heathen" and other anti–religious T–shirts and bumper stickers are increasingly seen on the streets.