theist

See also: Theist

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god”) +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθiːɪst/
• Rhymes: -iːɪst

Noun

theist (plural theists)

1. One who believes in the existence of a god or gods.
   • 1999, Jeaneane D. Fowler, Humanism: Beliefs & Practices, page 66

     The term stands in contradistinction to theism which, in its widest sense, means belief in a personal god, goddess, gods and /or goddesses.

   • 1764, Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary‎^[1]:

     The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being as good as He is powerful, who has formed all beings with extension, vegetating, sentient and reflecting; who perpetuates their species, who punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with kindness.

   • 1854, Theodore Parker, “Speculative Atheism”, in W. J. Linton, editors, The English Republic, volume 3, page 205:

     […] and I call him a theist who believes in any God.

   • 1870, John Henry Newman, An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent‎^[2], page 119:

     No one is to be called a Theist, who does not believe in a Personal God, whatever difficulty there may be in defining the word "Personal."

Antonyms

• atheist

Hyponyms

• bitheist, ditheist
• deist
• monotheist
• omnitheist
• pandeist
• panentheist
• pantheist, cosmotheist
• polytheist
• tritheist

Related terms

• theism

Translations

believer

• Catalan: teista m or f
• Finnish: teisti (fi)
• German: Theist (de) m, Theistin (de) f
• Marathi: आस्तिक m or f (āstik)
• Polish: teista (pl) m, teistka (pl) f
• Russian: теи́ст (ru) m (teíst)
• Serbo-Croatian: teist (sh) m
• Spanish: teísta (es) m or f
• Swedish: teist (sv) c
• Telugu: ఆస్తికుడు (te) (āstikuḍu)
• Turkish: tanrıcı (tr), teist (tr)

Further reading

• “theist”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Hietts, Thetis, tithes

Old High German

Contraction

theist

1. Contraction of thaz ist.