1
as in dissenter
a person who believes, teaches, or advocates something opposed to accepted beliefs Galileo was condemned as a heretic for supporting Copernicus's thesis that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of heretic His 1559 index counted any books written by people the church deemed heretics – anyone not speaking dogma, in the widest sense. Joëlle Rollo-Koster, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025 His 1559 index counted any books written by people the church deemed heretics – anyone not speaking dogma, in the widest sense. Joëlle Rollo-Koster, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025 The show is set in 15th century Europe at a time of inquisition, a time when heretics are burned at the stake and it is essentially forbidden to look at the stars. Rafael Motamayor, IndieWire, 15 Mar. 2025 By 1120, the church council in Jerusalem ordered that sodomites, like heretics, be burned at the stake. S. C. Cornell, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for heretic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heretic
Noun
  • Elections are tightly controlled, opposition is criminalized, political parties are banned, and dissenters—even peaceful ones are silenced.
    Roya Boroumand, Time, 9 July 2025
  • After a fiery feud with President Donald Trump, Elon Musk became estranged from the Republican Party, flipping from mega-donor to major dissenter.
    Brendan Rascius July 9, Miami Herald, 9 July 2025
Noun
  • Ballard is a maverick who’s been demoted to assembling a volunteer team, literally in the basement, to review cold case files.
    Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald, 6 July 2025
  • Car chases were as reliable a trope as the maverick officer with his own moral code mouthing off to superiors, or the battle-scarred veteran who’s seen it all and just wants to eat donuts and make it to retirement.
    Maris Kreizman, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2025
Noun
  • And, of course, my fantasy went right to some kind of renegade character along the lines of Saw Gerrera.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 16 May 2025
  • The director Doris Wishman was a renegade: a woman who made lurid exploitation films at a time when American underground cinema was a man’s playground.
    Erik Piepenburg, New York Times, 2 June 2025
Noun
  • What choice would a young reactionary iconoclast have but to veer right?
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2025
  • With no knock on a standard-issue C8 Corvette, the ZR1 is a serious target for collectors, including iconoclasts who prefer to zig where others zag.
    Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 25 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Heretic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heretic. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.

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