Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dogma

Dog′ma (dŏg′mȧ), n.; pl. E. Dogmas (-mȧz), L. Dogmata (-mȧ·tȧ). [L. dogma, Gr. δόγμα, pl. δόγματα, fr. δοκεῖν to think, seem, appear; akin to L. decet it is becoming. Cf. Decent.] 1. That which is held as an opinion; a tenet; a doctrine.

The obscure and loose dogmas of early antiquity. Whewell.

2. A formally stated and authoritatively settled doctrine; a definite, established, and authoritative tenet.

3. A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum.

Syn. — tenet; opinion; proposition; doctrine. — Dogma, Tenet. A tenet is that which is maintained as true with great firmness; as, the tenets of our holy religion. A dogma is that which is laid down with authority as indubitably true, especially a religious doctrine; as, the dogmas of the church. A tenet rests on its own intrinsic merits or demerits; a dogma rests on authority regarded as competent to decide and determine. Dogma has in our language acquired, to some extent, a repulsive sense, from its carrying with it the idea of undue authority or assumption. This is more fully the case with its derivatives dogmatical and dogmatism.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.