Table of Contents
Definition of Atheism
(noun) A lack of belief in the existence of deities or supernatural forces.
People who are Atheist
Atheism Pronunciation
Syllabification: a·the·ism
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /AY-thee-i-zuhm/
- British English – /AY-thii-zuhm/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈeɪθiˌɪzəm/
- British English – /ˈeɪθiːɪz(ə)m/
Usage Notes
- Plural: atheisms
- The opposite of atheism is theism, which is a belief in deities or supernatural forces.
- An (noun) atheist is an individual who (adverb) atheistically has (noun) atheistic or (noun) atheistical beliefs and expressed (noun) atheisticalness.
Additional Information
- Religion Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “atheism” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Encyclopædia Britannica. (N.d.) Britannica Digital Learning. (https://britannicalearn.com/).
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Oxford Reference. (N.d.) Oxford Reference. Taylor & Francis. New York: Oxford University Press.
Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Atheism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “atheism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/atheism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
atheism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/atheism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “atheism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/atheism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“atheism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/atheism/>.