irreligious
irreligious Lexical Profile
irreligious Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Indifferent or hostile to religion, or having no religious beliefs.
"Raised in a largely irreligious household, she only began studying theology during her university years."
Showing a lack of respect for sacred things or religious principles; irreverent or profane.
"The seventeenth-century pamphlet was condemned by church authorities for its openly irreligious remarks."
Word Nuance & Usage
"Irreligious" can mean either neutrally nonreligious (indifferent to religion) or actively hostile toward religion; in modern sociological usage, "nonreligious" or "secular" is often preferred when a purely neutral description is intended.
• Rhymes for irreligious
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 15th century from Late Latin irreligiosus ("impious, wicked"), formed from the assimilated negative prefix in- ("not") and religiosus ("pious, devout").