Standard Lemma guide

Deism

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈdiːɪz(ə)m/
  • /ˈdeɪ-/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdiːɪz(ə)m/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdeɪ-/
  • Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IY1 IH0 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A religious philosophy and movement prominent in 17th-18th-century England, France, and what is now the United States which rejected supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles, divine revelation, and holy books or revealed religions that assert such things exist.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Alternative letter-case form of deism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A philosophical belief in the existence of a god (or goddess) knowable through human reason; especially, a belief in a creator god unaccompanied by any belief in supernatural phenomena or specific religious doctrines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: theism

4

noun

Meaning 4

Belief in a god who ceased to intervene with existence after acting as the cause of the cosmos.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

the form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: free thought

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: rationalism

History

Etymology

From French déisme, from Latin deus (“god, deity”) + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: deismi — religious movement
  • Portuguese: deísmo — religious movement
  • Arabic: رُبُوبِيَّة (rubūbiyya) — belief
  • Bulgarian: деизъм (deizǎm) — belief
  • Catalan: deisme — belief
  • Chinese Cantonese: 自然神論 /自然神论 (zi6 jin4 san4 leon6) — belief
  • Chinese: 自然神論 /自然神论 (chū-jiân-sîn-lūn, chū-liân-sîn-lūn) — belief
  • Chinese: 理神論 /理神论 (lí-sîn-lūn) — belief
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自然神論 /自然神论 (zìránshénlùn) — belief
  • Czech: deismus — belief
  • Danish: deisme — belief
  • Dutch: deïsme — belief
  • Esperanto: diismo — belief
  • Estonian: deism — belief
  • Finnish: deismi — belief
  • French: déisme — belief
  • Georgian: დეიზმი (deizmi) — belief
  • German: Deismus — belief
  • Greek: ντεϊσμός (nteïsmós) — belief
  • Hebrew: דאיזם (deizm) — belief
  • Hindi: तटस्थेश्वरवाद (taṭastheśvarvād) — belief
  • Hindi: देववाद (devvād) — belief
  • Hungarian: deizmus — belief
  • Icelandic: frumgyðistrú — belief
  • Ido: deismo — belief
  • Indonesian: deisme — belief
  • Irish: dias — belief
  • Italian: deismo — belief
  • Japanese: 理神論 (rishinron) — belief
  • Khmer: ទេពនិយម (teip ni’yum) — belief
  • Korean: 자연신론 (jayeonsillon) — belief
  • Korean: 이신론 (isillon) — belief
  • Central Kurdish: خواباوەڕی (xwabawerrî) — belief
  • Polish: deizm — belief
  • Portuguese: deísmo — belief
  • Romanian: deism — belief
  • Russian: деи́зм (deízm) — belief
  • Serbo-Croatian: deizam — belief
  • Spanish: deísmo — belief
  • Swedish: deism — belief
  • Thai: เทวัสนิยม — belief
  • Turkish: deizm — belief
  • Turkish: yaradancılık — belief
  • Ukrainian: деїзм (dejizm) — belief
  • Urdu: ربوبیت (rabobiyat) — belief