skepticism

English

Alternative forms

scepticism (Commonwealth)

Etymology

skeptic +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛp.tɪˌsɪ.zəm/
- Audio (Mid-Atlantic) (file)

Noun

skepticism (countable and uncountable, plural skepticisms) (American spelling)

The practice or philosophy of being a skeptic.
A studied attitude of questioning and doubt
The doctrine that absolute knowledge is not possible
A methodology that starts from a neutral standpoint and aims to acquire certainty though scientific or logical observation.
Doubt or disbelief of religious doctrines

Derived terms

antiskepticism
Euroskepticism
Euro-skepticism
technoskepticism

Related terms

skeptic
skeptical

Translations

general disposition to doubt

Albanian: skepticizmi
Armenian: հոռետեսություն (hy) (hoṙetesutʿyun)
Basque: eszeptizismo
Bulgarian: скептици́зъм (bg) m (skepticízǎm)
Catalan: escepticisme
Chinese:
Mandarin: 懷疑論 (zh), 怀疑论 (zh) (huáiyílùn), 懷疑主義 (zh), 怀疑主义 (zh) (huáiyízhǔyì)
Crimean Tatar: skeptitsizm, şübecilik
Czech: skepticismus m, skepse f
Danish: skepticisme
Dutch: twijfelzucht f, scepticisme (nl), skepticisme
Estonian: skeptitsism
Faroese: ivastevna f
Finnish: skeptisyys (fi)
French: scepticisme (fr) m
Galician: escepticismo (gl) m
German: Skeptizismus (de) m, Skepsis (de) f
Greek: σκεπτικισμός (el) (skeptikismós)
Hebrew: ספקנות‎ f (safkanút)
Hungarian: szkepticizmus (hu)
Icelandic: efahyggja
Indonesian: skeptisisme (id)
Italian: scetticismo (it)
Japanese: 懐疑主義 (かいぎしゅぎ, kaigishugi), 懐疑論 (かいぎろん, kaigiron), スケプチシズム (sukepuchishizumu)
Latin: scepticismus
Lithuanian: skepticizmas m
Malay: skeptisisme
Norwegian: skeptisisme
Polish: sceptycyzm (pl)
Portuguese: ceticismo (pt) m
Romanian: scepticism (ro) n
Russian: скептици́зм (ru) m (skepticízm), ске́псис (ru) m (sképsis)
Scottish Gaelic: neo-chreidmheachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: скептицизам m
Roman: skepticizam (sh) m
Slovak: skepticizmus
Slovene: skepticizem
Spanish: escepticismo (es) m
Swedish: skepticism (sv)
Tagalog: kila, pangingila
Turkish: kuşkuculuk (tr), septisizm (tr), skeptisizm
Ukrainian: скептици́зм (skeptycýzm)
Volapük: dotim (vo)

doctrine

Finnish: skepticism (fi), skeptisismi (fi)
Galician: escepticismo (gl) m