heretical

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin haereticālis,^[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin haereticus (“heretic; heretical”),^[3][2] the source of heretic,^[5][2] from Ancient Greek αἱρετικός (hairetikós, “able to choose”), which in the New Testament meant "heretical",^[5][2] from αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; to choose”).^[5][2] Etymonline also names Old French eretical as a source.^[5] The suffix is -al.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to, or containing heresy: early 15th century in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged, and late Middle English in the Shorter Oxford.^[5][3][4] The OED's first quotation is from 1532, in More's Confutation of Tyndale.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it narrowly as "containing heresy".^[6] Beside the religious sense, modern dictionaries give a general one: departing from accepted beliefs or standards in any field, unorthodox.^[3][1] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate also records heretic itself as an adjective with the same meaning.^[7]

Timeline

• early 15th century – of, relating to, or containing heresy.^[5][3] The OED's first quotation is from 1532.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or containing heresy; contrary to the accepted doctrine of a church: The synod condemned the monk's heretical sermons.^[3][2][4]
2. Departing from accepted beliefs or standards; unorthodox: Her heretical view of the treatment upset the older doctors.^[3][7][1]

Word family

• heretically
• hereticalness
• nonheretical

Related words

• heresy
• heretic

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster