Meanings
- not comparableHaving a similar but not identical essence, especially with reference to the first and second persons of the Trinity.
Human ill-nature needs but some Homoiousian iota, or even the pretence of one; and will flow copiously through the eye of a needle: thus always must mortals go jargoning and fuming […].
1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (Varennes)
plural homoiousians
- historicalOne of the Semi-Arians of the 4th century who held that the Son was of like, but not the same, essence or substance with the Father.
The Greek word, which was chosen to express this mysterious resemblance, bears so close an affinity to the orthodox symbol, that the profane of every age have derided the furious contests which the difference of a single diphthong excited between the Homoousians and the Homoiousians.
1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 257
Origin
- Ancient Greekὁμοιούσιος
- Englishhomoiousian
From Ancient Greek ὁμοιούσιος (homoioúsios), from ὅμοιος (hómoios, “like, similar”) + οὐσίᾱ (ousíā, “essence”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
homoiousian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homoiousian
“homoiousian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homoiousian. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “homoiousian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homoiousian.
Source: homoiousian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.