dogma Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof
    tenet.
  2. noun a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
    • he believed all the Marxist dogma

WordNet


Dog"ma noun
Etymology
L. dogma, Gr. , pl. , fr. to think, seem, appear; akin to L. decet it is becoming. Cf. Decent.
Wordforms
plural E Dogmas L Dogmata
Definitions
  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 1913