Standard Lemma guide

Gnosticism

noun · 3 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.

  • UK: /ˈnɒstɪsɪzəm/
  • US: /ˈnɑstəsɪzəm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N AA1 S T IH0 S IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A wide variety of Jewish and early Christian sects having an interest in gnosis, or divine knowledge, and generally holding the belief that there is a god greater than the Demiurge, or the creator of the world.

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 form of Gnosticism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a religious orientation advocating gnosis as the way to release a person's spiritual element; considered heresy by Christian churches

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: heresy, unorthodoxy, theological doctrine

Narrower terms: Mandaeanism, Mandeanism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh3- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh3tisder. Ancient Greek γνῶσις (gnôsis) ▲ Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τῐκός (-tĭkós) Ancient Greek γνωστῐκός (gnōstĭkós) English Gnostic Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English Gnosticism From Gnostic + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

46 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: gnosticizëm — Gnosticism
  • Arabic: غُنُّوصِيَّة (ḡunnūṣiyya) — Gnosticism
  • Arabic: عِرْفَانِيَّة (ʕirfāniyya) — Gnosticism
  • Aragonese: gnostizismo — Gnosticism
  • Armenian: գնոստիցիզմ (gnosticʻizm) — Gnosticism
  • Armenian: գնոստիկություն (gnostikutʻyun) — Gnosticism
  • Belarusian: гнастыцызм (hnastycyzm) — Gnosticism
  • Bulgarian: гностици́зъм (gnosticízǎm) — Gnosticism
  • Catalan: gnosticisme — Gnosticism
  • Chinese Cantonese: 諾斯底主義 /诺斯底主义 (nok6 si1 dai2 zyu2 ji6) — Gnosticism
  • Chinese Mandarin: 諾斯底主義 /诺斯底主义 (Nuòsīdǐ zhǔyì) — Gnosticism
  • Czech: gnosticismus — Gnosticism
  • Czech: gnóze — Gnosticism
  • Danish: gnosticisme — Gnosticism
  • Dutch: gnosticisme — Gnosticism
  • Esperanto: gnostikismo — Gnosticism
  • Finnish: gnostilaisuus — Gnosticism
  • French: gnosticisme — Gnosticism
  • German: Gnostizismus — Gnosticism
  • Greek: γνωστικισμός (gnostikismós) — Gnosticism
  • Hebrew: גְּנוֹסְטִיקָה (gnostiqa) — Gnosticism
  • Hungarian: gnoszticizmus — Gnosticism
  • Interlingua: gnosticismo — Gnosticism
  • Italian: gnosticismo — Gnosticism
  • Japanese: グノーシス主義 (gunōshisu shugi) — Gnosticism
  • Kazakh: гностицизм (gnostisizm) — Gnosticism
  • Korean: 영지주의 (yeongjijuui) — Gnosticism
  • Latvian: gnosticisms — Gnosticism
  • Lithuanian: gnosticizmas — Gnosticism
  • Macedonian: гностицизам (gnosticizam) — Gnosticism
  • Norwegian: gnostisisme — Gnosticism
  • Persian: گنوستیسیزم (gnostisizm) — Gnosticism
  • Persian: غنوصی (ġnusi) — Gnosticism
  • Polish: gnostycyzm — Gnosticism
  • Portuguese: gnosticismo — Gnosticism
  • Romanian: gnosticism — Gnosticism
  • Russian: гностици́зм (gnosticízm) — Gnosticism
  • Serbo-Croatian: гностицѝзам — Gnosticism
  • Serbo-Croatian: gnosticìzam — Gnosticism
  • Slovene: gnosticizem — Gnosticism
  • Spanish: gnosticismo — Gnosticism
  • Swedish: gnosticism — Gnosticism
  • Tagalog: nostisismo — Gnosticism
  • Turkish: gnostisizm — Gnosticism
  • Ukrainian: гностицизм (hnostycyzm) — Gnosticism
  • Urdu: معرفت — Gnosticism