Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • etc. See skeptic, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • See skeptic, skeptical, skepticism, etc.

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

  • noun Someone who is undecided as to what is true and enquires after facts.
  • noun Someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs and claims presented by others, requiring strong evidence before accepting any belief or claim.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin *scepticus, only in plural Sceptici ("the sect of Sceptics"), from Ancient Greek σκεπτικός (skeptikos, "thoughtful, inquiring"), from σκέπτομαι (skeptomai, "I consider"), compare to σκοπέω (skopeō, "I view, examine").

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Examples

  • We might help to promote a more constructive debate, however, by being "as explicit as possible about what we are talking about when we use the term sceptic".

    Prison Planet.com admin 2010

  • If you instinctively interpret that sentence as a reference to the battle-scarred topic of climate change, then it is a mark of how successfully those opposed to the scientific consensus on climate change have appropriated the term sceptic ". army of Freedom of Information requesters currently swarming around climate science databases?

    Blogposts | guardian.co.uk Adam Corner 2010

  • If you instinctively interpret that sentence as a reference to the battle-scarred topic of climate change, then it is a mark of how successfully those opposed to the scientific consensus on climate change have appropriated the term sceptic ". army of Freedom of Information requesters currently swarming around climate science databases?

    Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk Adam Corner 2010

  • The difference by the way between a denialist and a sceptic is important.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » So, Caprica. 2010

  • Of all bores in the world, your quizzing, carping, text‑torturing sceptic is the worst - next to mule driving; and those confounded mules would bore a two inch auger hole through the meekness of Moses himself, were he their master.

    Life in the Rocky Mountains 1844

  • A packed chamber gathered to hear Mr Bush, a long term sceptic of the world body, compare its founding charter to the religious texts of the Bible, Koran and Torah.

    British Blogs CALEDONIAN COMMENT 2008

  • And it's spelt "sceptic" - it is the British Broadcasting Corporation, after all.

    THE RISING TIDE.... 2009

  • (As an aside, it also tells you why being a sceptic is such damn hard work.

    2009 August — Fusion Despatches 2009

  • Now, any scientist who dares to question the prevailing wisdom is marginalized and called a sceptic, when in fact they are simply being good scientists.

    Archive 2007-02-01 2007

  • Now, any scientist who dares to question the prevailing wisdom is marginalized and called a sceptic, when in fact they are simply being good scientists.

    Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? 2007

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