dogmatic

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French dogmatique, a physician of the dogmatist school (1537), and partly borrowed from Late Latin dogmaticus (“relating to Christian teaching; of physicians, proceeding on general principles”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded from the 5th century,^[2] from Ancient Greek δογματικός (dogmatikós, “pertaining to doctrines; didactic”),^[2][6][3][7] formed from δόγμα (dógma, “opinion, tenet”), stem δογματ- (dogmat-) (see dogma), and the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[2][4][5] The Greek noun is from δοκέω (dokéō, “to seem good, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“to take, accept”).^[6] Quintilian used the Greek word in Latin, and the phrases “dogmatic philosophy” and “dogmatic medicine” follow Hellenistic Greek usage.^[2] Compare Italian dogmatico (1585), Spanish dogmático (1605) and Portuguese dogmático (1619).^[2] The longer dogmatical is recorded slightly earlier, from about 1600.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a physician of the dogmatic school: 1605, in T. Tymme's translation of J. Du Chesne.^[2][4] The adjective, proceeding from principles accepted beforehand as true rather than from experience, follows in 1615.^[2][4] The Oxford Dictionary of English also gives the noun as the first use, in the early 17th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word came in with the learned schools of medicine and philosophy, whose followers reasoned from accepted principles rather than on experience.^[2][8] From 1624 it meant "relating to dogma, doctrinal",^[2] a sense Etymonline dates to 1706.^[6] In the late 17th century it moved from the content to the manner of teaching: "given to propounding opinions" (1678), and then, from 1681, of a person or a writing that asserts opinions in an authoritative or arrogant way,^[2] the sense Etymonline dates to the 1680s.^[6] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary on the dogmatic man, who presses his opinions on others as true without argument.^[6] As a noun it also meant a dogmatic person (1650, in Hobbes), and since 1857 it has been used for a system of dogma, the sense of dogmatics.^[2]

Timeline

• 1605 – noun, a physician of the dogmatic school.^[2][4]
• 1615 – proceeding on principles accepted as true beforehand, as dogmatic philosophy.^[2][4]
• 1624 – relating to dogma, doctrinal.^[2]
• before 1631 – noun, a philosopher of the dogmatic school, in Donne.^[2]
• 1650 – noun, a dogmatic person.^[2]
• 1681 – asserting opinions in an authoritative or arrogant way.^[2][6]
• 1857 – noun, dogmatics, a system of dogma.^[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Stating opinions forcefully as if they were unquestionable, without regard for evidence or other views; opinionated: a dogmatic reviewer who never changed her mind.^[10][4][2]
2. Relating to or consisting of dogma; doctrinal.^[10][2]
3. Based on principles assumed in advance rather than on empirical observation.^[10][2]

Noun

1. (historical) A physician or philosopher of the dogmatic school.^[2][9]
2. (archaic) A dogmatist.^[4][2]

Word family

• dogmatically
• dogmaticalness
• antidogmatic
• nondogmatic
• overdogmatic
• undogmatic
• dogmatic theology

Related words

• dogmatize
• dogmatism
• dogmatist
• dogma
• dogmatics
• dogmatical

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins