heterodox

adjective

het·ero·dox ˈhe-tə-rə-ˌdäks

ˈhe-trə-

: contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion : unorthodox, unconventional

heterodox ideas

: holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines

a heterodox religious sect

Did you know?

Hot take: individuals often see other people’s ideas as unconventional while regarding their own as common sense. On second thought, this take may be more on the mild side—in other words, closer to orthodox (“conventional”) insight about human nature than to heterodox (“unconventional” or “contrary”) opinion. Both orthodox and heterodox developed from the same root, the Greek doxa, meaning “opinion.” Heterodox combines doxa with heter-, a combining form meaning “other” or “different”; orthodox pairs doxa with orth-, meaning “correct” or “straight.”

Example Sentences

a Christian clergyman with a very heterodox opinion on the divinity of Jesus her heterodox approach to teaching science initially met with some resistance from her peers

Recent Examples on the Web Justice and The Donald do have plenty of similarities: the wealth, the businesses, the heterodox populist rhetoric driving their electoral successes. —

Andrew Donaldson, Washington Examiner, 5 May 2023 In 2008, however, McCain emerged after grueling struggles as the presidential nominee of a Republican Party whose base had grown increasingly resistant to his bipartisanship, his internationalism, and his boldly heterodox policy initiatives on climate change and immigration reform. —

Geoffrey Kabaservice, Washington Post, 16 Oct. 2020 Debates about stimulus and spending are only the beginning of his thought, which ranged over ethics and politics as well as economics, and which was far more heterodox than the interpretations of his work that have come down to us today would suggest. —

Kim Phillips-Fein, The New Republic, 9 June 2020 As a millennial, Stefanik held heterodox views. —

Jake Bernstein, The New York Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2020 Another is that many Americans enjoy listening to long-form discussions between guests who often have heterodox views. —

David Harsanyi, National Review, 10 Feb. 2022 Either Bloom will be proven to be a heterodox hardball thinker or a tinkerer who is in over his head in his crusade for sustainability. —

Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Feb. 2023 Even many of the heterodox Founders with Deist sympathies like Jefferson perceived the Christianity of their day to be in a degraded condition. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 27 Oct. 2011 Hoyler, the son and brother of LCPS teachers and an occasional substitute himself, has netted one of the board’s most heterodox records since. —

Teo Armus, Washington Post, 5 Nov. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heterodox.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.