Pagan

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pagan \Pa"gan\ (p[=a]"gan), n. [L. paganus a countryman,
     peasant, villager, a pagan, fr. paganus of or pertaining to
     the country, rustic, also, pagan, fr. pagus a district,
     canton, the country, perh. orig., a district with fixed
     boundaries: cf. pangere to fasten. Cf. {Painim}, {Peasant},
     and {Pact}, also {Heathen}.]


     One who worships false gods; an idolater; a heathen; one who
     is neither a Christian, a Mohammedan, nor a Jew.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Neither having the accent of Christians, nor the gait
           of Christian, pagan, nor man.            --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Gentile; heathen; idolater.
  
     Usage: {Pagan}, {Gentile}, {Heathen}. Gentile was applied to
            the other nations of the earth as distinguished from
            the Jews. Pagan was the name given to idolaters in the
            early Christian church, because the villagers, being
            most remote from the centers of instruction, remained
            for a long time unconverted. Heathen has the same
            origin. Pagan is now more properly applied to rude and
            uncivilized idolaters, while heathen embraces all who
            practice idolatry.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pagan \Pa"gan\, a. [L. paganus of or pertaining to the country,
     pagan. See {Pagan}, n.]
     Of or pertaining to pagans; relating to the worship or the
     worshipers of false goods; heathen; idolatrous, as, pagan
     tribes or superstitions.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           And all the rites of pagan honor paid.   --Dryden.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pagan
       adj : not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and
             Islam [syn: {heathen}, {heathenish}, {ethnic}]
       n : a person who does not acknowledge your God [syn: {heathen},
           {gentile}, {infidel}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  78 Moby Thesaurus words for "pagan":
     Gentile, Gothic, Philistine, allotheist, allotheistic, animist,
     animistic, atheist, atheistic, barbarous, bibliolatrous, bookless,
     chthonian, deceived, disbeliever, disbelieving, ethnic, faithless,
     fetishistic, functionally illiterate, gentile, grammarless,
     heathen, heathenish, hoodwinked, idol worshiping, idolater,
     idolatric, idolatrical, idolatrous, idolistic, ill-educated,
     illiterate, infidel, infidelic, led astray, lowbrow, minimifidian,
     misinformed, misinstructed, mistaught, nonbeliever,
     nonintellectual, nullifidian, paganish, paganistic,
     pagano-Christian, polytheist, polytheistic, profane, rude,
     secularist, unbeliever, unbelieving, unbooked, unbookish,
     unbooklearned, unbriefed, unchristian, uncultivated, uncultured,
     unedified, uneducated, unerudite, unguided, uninstructed,
     unintellectual, unlearned, unlettered, unliterary, unread,
     unrefined, unscholarly, unschooled, unstudious, untaught,
     untutored, zoolatrous