# atheism

Pronunciation: say "AY-thee-i-zuhm" /ˈeɪ.θi.ɪ.zəm/

## Noun

1. The conviction that there are no gods at all, which sometimes extends to rejecting other religious beliefs too.
   - Simple: The belief that no gods exist, and sometimes a refusal of other religious beliefs.
   - _His atheism rested on the conviction that no god of any kind exists._
   - _After the debate, she defended her atheism as a firm denial of all deities._
2. The absence of belief in any god, or the position that the evidence is too weak to justify such belief.
   - Simple: Not believing in any gods, or thinking there is not enough proof that a god exists.
   - _His atheism was rooted not in denial but in the weak evidence for any god._
   - _She framed her atheism as a withholding of belief until better proof appeared._
3. An absence of belief that any deities exist, including cases where the very concept of deities is absent.
   - Simple: Not believing in any gods: including never even having the idea of a god.
   - _Defined this broadly, an infant's atheism consists in never having formed the concept of a deity._
   - _Some scholars extend atheism to any creature lacking the very notion of a god._
4. A rejection of all religions, including those that have no gods.
   - Simple: Refusing all religions, even ones that have no gods.
   - _His atheism extended to a refusal of all religions, theistic or not._
   - _Their atheism rejected not just belief in gods but every organized faith, including non-theistic ones._

## Noun

5. The absence of belief in a particular deity, pantheon, or religious doctrine, while still believing in other deities. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Not believing in one certain god or set of gods, while still believing in others.
   - _Roman magistrates condemned the new sect's atheism, since its members would not sacrifice to the imperial gods._
   - _His atheism toward the city's patron deity did not stop him from honoring his ancestral spirits._

## Origin

This word entered English in the 16th century from Middle French athéisme, based on athée ("atheist"). That was borrowed from Ancient Greek átheos ("godless"), formed from a- ("without") plus theós ("god"). The first English use is recorded in 1587.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/atheism (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).