pious If someone is deeply religious and visibly follows all the moral and ethical codes of his religion, he is pious. Don't become a priest if you're not prepared to live a pious life. Pious comes from the Latin pius, which means dutiful. It doesn't always have to be used to talk about organized religion. If someone believes deeply in something, and lets everyone see it through their behavior, then they are pious, whether they're pious Christians or pious environmentalists. It differs from its synonym devout, which implies deep religious sentiment, whereas pious emphasizes the public display of feeling.
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See AllWhen something is deducible, it follows logically from a general principle, meaning you can figure it out by working through it. Your...
To perplex someone is to amaze, baffle, bewilder, dumbfound, flummox, mystify, or puzzle them. Perplexing things are hard to understand....
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theologian
A college student who majors in religion may decide to become a theologian, or an expert in the study of religion.
Use the noun theologian to describe a person who has read and studied religious thought and ideas. Professors in a university's religious studies department are usually theologians, and religious leaders are usually considered to be theologians. Theologian comes from theology, the study of God or religion, which has its root in the Greek word theologia, "an account of the gods."
cornerstone
A cornerstone is literally a stone at the corner of a building. It’s an important stone, so it also means “the basic part of something,” as in, the cornerstone of the suffragette movement was getting women the right to vote.
When a building goes up, putting in the cornerstone is a big deal and people celebrate. Many cornerstones are engraved with historical information about the building, such as the year the building was built. The cornerstone is sometimes made of a different material from the rest of the building too. From the sense of "foundation," cornerstone also means "essential element.” If you’re really into Italian food, you might say that pasta is the cornerstone of your diet.
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transcendental
Transcendental describes anything that has to do with the spiritual, non-physical world. You could describe the time you spend in the woods hiking as a physical and a transcendental experience.
When something is transcendental, it's beyond ordinary, everyday experience. It might be religious, spiritual, or otherworldly, but if it's transcendental, it transcends — or goes beyond — the regular physical realm. The adjective transcendental is used to describe a particular kind of meditation, a specific school of philosophy, and even a type of number in mathematics. Transcendental and transcend come from the Latin word transcendere, or climb over or beyond.
skeptical
If a friend told you that her family was perfect and they never had any problems, would you believe her? If not, you may be skeptical. Skeptical people look at the world with a certain amount of doubt.
This word comes from ancient Greece, where a philosopher named Pyrrho taught his followers that we can never really understand the true nature of things, only how they appear to us. (So basically, we should stop searching for the meaning of life and just relax.) In Pyrrho's view, the true sage was someone who realized that it was impossible to be certain about anything. His followers were called Skeptikoi, or Skeptics; the Greek word skeptikos means “given to asking questions.”
empiricism
Empiricism means a method of study relying on empirical evidence, which includes things you've experienced: stuff you can see and touch.
Empiricism is based on facts, evidence, and research. Scholars and researchers deal in empiricism. If you believe in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus, you're out of the realm of empiricism — there are no facts to support those myths. If you want to get something practical done, or to really know what the deal is with something, empiricism is the way to go.