"heathen" meaning in English

See heathen in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈhiːðən/ Audio: en-us-heathen.ogg [US] Forms: heathen [positive], more heathen [comparative], most heathen [superlative]
Head templates: {{adj|more=true}} [POS TABLE]
  1. Not believing in any religion or anything spiritual. This could also mean an idea that is against all religion.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-adj-rdZl68p~
  2. wild or immoral.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-adj-8aUSaJ0a
  3. Having to do with the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia; about Heathenry.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-adj-uCO96E6K
  4. Not Christian.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-adj-5aBIeBeR

Noun

IPA: /ˈhiːðən/ Audio: en-us-heathen.ogg [US] Forms: heathen [singular], heathens [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A person who has no religion and does not believe in anything spiritual.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-noun-AYJvT4Nb
  2. A wild or immoral person.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-noun-G7qufHs1
  3. A pagan who tries to follow the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia. This religion is often called Asatru or Heathenry.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-noun-8lqk5lkG
  4. A person who is not a Christian.
    Sense id: simple-heathen-en-noun-k1gW0okV
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "heathen",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "heathens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "An atheist doesn't believe in God, but a heathen doesn't believe in anything."
        },
        {
          "text": "We are all rational and rebellious heathens here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has no religion and does not believe in anything spiritual."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-noun-AYJvT4Nb",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Those kids were a bunch of heathens who did nothing but party."
        },
        {
          "text": "That bunch of heathens completely destroyed this place."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A wild or immoral person."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-noun-G7qufHs1",
      "raw_tags": [
        "by extension"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is a very serious Heathen and prays to Odin and Thor everyday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pagan who tries to follow the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia. This religion is often called Asatru or Heathenry."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-noun-8lqk5lkG",
      "raw_tags": [
        "often capitalized"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is not a Christian."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-noun-k1gW0okV",
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhiːðən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-heathen.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "heathen"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "heathen",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more heathen",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most heathen",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I found him reading some heathen book that claimed to disprove God."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not believing in any religion or anything spiritual. This could also mean an idea that is against all religion."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-adj-rdZl68p~"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Everything he does is totally heathen."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "wild or immoral."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-adj-8aUSaJ0a",
      "raw_tags": [
        "by extension"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Having to do with the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia; about Heathenry."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-adj-uCO96E6K",
      "raw_tags": [
        "often capitalized"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "\"The heathen [Aztec] gods cursed the gold....\"—from Pirates of the Caribbean"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not Christian."
      ],
      "id": "simple-heathen-en-adj-5aBIeBeR",
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhiːðən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-heathen.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "heathen"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "heathen",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "heathens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "An atheist doesn't believe in God, but a heathen doesn't believe in anything."
        },
        {
          "text": "We are all rational and rebellious heathens here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has no religion and does not believe in anything spiritual."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Those kids were a bunch of heathens who did nothing but party."
        },
        {
          "text": "That bunch of heathens completely destroyed this place."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A wild or immoral person."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "by extension"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is a very serious Heathen and prays to Odin and Thor everyday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pagan who tries to follow the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia. This religion is often called Asatru or Heathenry."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "often capitalized"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A person who is not a Christian."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhiːðən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-heathen.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "heathen"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "heathen",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more heathen",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most heathen",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I found him reading some heathen book that claimed to disprove God."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not believing in any religion or anything spiritual. This could also mean an idea that is against all religion."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Everything he does is totally heathen."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "wild or immoral."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "by extension"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Having to do with the religion of ancient Germany or Scandinavia; about Heathenry."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "often capitalized"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "\"The heathen [Aztec] gods cursed the gold....\"—from Pirates of the Caribbean"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Not Christian."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhiːðən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-heathen.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "heathen"
}

Download raw JSONL data for heathen meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-03 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (05fdf6b and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.