nullifidian

From Latin nūllus (“not any”) + fidēs (“faith”) + -ian.

• IPA^(key): /ˌnʌl.əˈfɪd.i.ən/, /nul-/

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nullifidian (plural nullifidians)

1. (archaic) A sceptic; an atheist or unbeliever.

   Antonyms: solifidian, true believer, believer

   Coordinate term: legalist

   Near-synonyms: infidel, apostate, heretic (either coordinate or synonymous depending on the beliefs of the speaker or writer)

   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter IV, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 56:

     [...] Celia was no longer the eternal cherub, but a thorn in her spirit, a pink-and-white nullifidian, worse than any discouraging presence in the 'Pilgrim's Progress.'

   • 1892, George Gissing, Born in Exile:

     A man may be content to remain a nullifidian; women cannot rest at that stage. They demand the spiritual significance of everything.

• nullifidianism

nullifidian

1. Of no faith or religion; not trusting to faith for salvation.

   Antonyms: solifidian, faithful, fidelitous

   Coordinate term: legalistic

   Near-synonyms: atheistic, agnostic

• “nullifidian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.