Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Jewish use, one who is unsound in belief or lax in the observance of religion or ceremony; one who is irreverent to rabbis; a skeptic or heretic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Jewish skeptic or apostate.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hebrew אֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס ('eppiqóros, "heretic"), from אפקרסותא (heresy). From the root פקר ('to break out') with a formative ס (compare אפקרסין 'undergarments' from פקר in the sense of 'undress'). Phonetically coincidental with Ancient Greek ᾽Επίκουρος (Epíkouros, "Epicurus"), the name of the ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism - this similarity probably contributed significantly to the popularity of the term in rabbinic literature.

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Examples

  • What annoyed him was their fanatic sense of righteousness, their absolute certainty that they and they alone had God's ear, and every other Jew was wrong, totally wrong, a sinner, a hypocrite, an apikoros, and doomed, therefore, to burn in hell.

    Archive 2006-12-01 M-mv 2006

  • What annoyed him was their fanatic sense of righteousness, their absolute certainty that they and they alone had God's ear, and every other Jew was wrong, totally wrong, a sinner, a hypocrite, an apikoros, and doomed, therefore, to burn in hell.

    The recommended daily allowance M-mv 2006

  • Also, I see that the self-proclaimed apikoros is salivating over the prospect of frum Jews frying out on his site — Jason is evidence of the growing baal teshuva movement while the Conservative movement is quickly fading away.

    First Orthodox Jew Elected to New Hampshire Legislature | Jewschool 2006

  • Reuven Malter (Carter Hudson) and Danny Saunders (Jonathan David Martin) are apikoros and Hasidic Jews, respectively.

    Portland Mercury Jane Carlen 2010

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