creed

plural creeds

1. That which is believed; accepted doctrine, especially religious doctrine; a particular set of beliefs; any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to.

   Near-synonym: dogma

   5 more examples

   Holonyms: belief system, cosmology

   Oh! who young Leila's glance could read / And keep that portion of his creed / Which saith, that woman is but dust, / A soulless toy for tyrant's lust?

   1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 12

   Man, being the child of imitation, has a general tendency in life and in religion to follow the creed and tastes of his fathers, whether in the ways of wisdom or folly—perhaps more readily in the latter.

   1881, John Younger, “Introductory Chapter”, in Autobiography of John Younger, Shoemaker, St. Boswells, Kelso, Scotland: J. & J.H. Rutherfurd, page xiv

   For three successive years, thereafter, as the anniversary of the War [i.e., World War I] came round, equally large assemblies of British subjects of all races and creeds came together in the [Victoria] Theatre to reaffirm the resolution to carry on the war to a victorious end, until at last, after many vicissitudes, victory was secured to the Allies.

   1923, Song Ong Siang, “The Tenth Decade (1909–19): Second Part”, in One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 522

   He killed our tribes, he killed our creed / He took our game for his own need

   1982 February 12, Steve Harris, “Run to the Hills”, performed by Iron Maiden

   Synonyms: dogma

2. specificallylifestyleA reading or statement of belief that summarizes the faith it represents; a confession of faith for public use, especially one which is brief and comprehensive.

   A creed is a manifesto of religious or spiritual beliefs

   2 more examples

   [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]

   1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40

   The Apostles' Creed was not the only creed to come into existence in the period of the early church. However, it is the oldest and simplest creed of the church. All Christian traditions recognize its authority and its importance as a standard of doctrine. To study the Apostles' Creed is to investigate a central element of our common Christian heritage.

   2015, Alister [Edgar] McGrath, “Getting the Most out of Apostles’ Creed”, in Apostles’ Creed (LifeGuide Bible Studies), Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, →ISBN, page 6

3. rareThe fact of believing; belief, faith.

   Oh love! how perfect is thy mystic art, / Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong, / How self-deceitful is the sagest part / Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along— / The precipice she stood on was immense, / So was her creed in her own innocence.

   1819, [Lord Byron], “Canto I”, in Don Juan, London: Printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars, →OCLC, stanza CVI, page 56

present singular third person creeds · participle present creeding · participle past creeded · past creeded

1. ambitransitiveobsoleteonly survives in "creeded"To believe; to credit.

   'I was n't for creeding me awn e'en,' believing my own eyes.

   [1873, John Harland, “Creed”, in A Glossary of Words Used in Swaledale, Yorkshire (Series C (Original Glossaries, and Glossaries with Fresh Editions); 4), London: Published for the English Dialect Society, by Trübner & Co., 57 & 59, Ludgate Hill, →OCLC, page 45

   2 more examples

   Only this I marvelled, and other men have since, whenas I, in a ſubject ſo new to this age, and ſo hazardous to pleaſe, concealed not my name, why this author, defending that part which is ſo creeded by the people, would conceal his.

   1645 March 4, J[ohn] M[ilton], Colasterion: A Reply to a Nameles Ansvver against The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. Wherein the Trivial Author of that Answer is Discover’d, the Licencer Conferr’d with, and the Opinion which They Traduce Defended, [London]: [Printed by Matthew Simmons?], →OCLC; republished in The Works of John Milton, Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous. Now More Correctly Printed from the Originals, than in Any Former Edition, and may Passages Restored, which have been hitherto Omitted. To which is Prefixed, an Account of His Life and Writings [by Thomas Birch]. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, 1753, →OCLC, page 326

   And ſo, no doubt, were his other Preferments as acceptable, which did require ſuch Athanaſsian Subſcriptions, &c. and which he in an Athanaſian Form ſubſcrib'd, creeded, and worſhip'd for till his dying-day.

   1731, Simon Scriblerus [pseudonym], Whistoneutes: Or, Remarks on Mr. Whiston’s Historical Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Samuel Clarke, &c., London: Printed for T. Warner, at th Black-Boy in Pater-Noster-Row, →OCLC, page 42

2. intransitiveTo provide with a creed.

   Especially in the studies of religions less creeded than Christianity scholars have long insisted on the importance in religion of sacred stories.

   1977, Peter Slater, “Religion as Story: The Biography of Norman Bethune”, in Peter Slater, editor, Religion and Culture in Canada = Religion et Culture au Canada, Toronto, Ont.: Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, →ISBN, page 290

   1 more example

   The poor like Priests—Priests utilise the poor; / High Church the common people feeding / Exclaims—"You Low Church indolents observe / How we go about leavening and creeding!"

   1872, “The Survivor” [pseudonym; Walter Rowton], “Part the Fourth”, in Hal and I. In Four Parts, London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 122

plural Creeds

1. A surname from Old English.
2. A male given name.

1. ChristianityThe Apostles' Creed.

   He also repeated the Creed, but in a broken and stammering manner, for when he came to the words "I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting," he pronounced them in so hoarse and indistinct a voice that no one could rightly hear and understand him.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 52