orthodox

comparative more orthodox · superlative most orthodox

1. Conforming to the accepted, established, or traditional doctrines of a given faith, religion, or ideology.First known use 15th c.

   Five important modifications were made by the Pietists to the orthodox doctrine of justification, each corresponding to a distinctive aspect of the movement's agenda.

   2005, Alister E McGrath, Iustitia Dei

   1 more example

   ‘These speakers are academics who have specialised in Islamic sciences and are well respected in scholarly circles. It is grossly unjust to suggest that they belong to some fringe ideology rather than orthodox Islam.’

   2009 December 23, Andrew Brown, The Guardian

   Synonyms: homodox · Antonyms: heretical, heterodox, inorthodox, nonorthodox, unorthodox, blasphemous, haram, heretical

2. Adhering to whatever is customary, traditional, or generally accepted.First known use 1640s

   Not only the quack cures of the past but also many forms of treatment given with the best will and intentions in the world by the best and most orthodox doctors of the time seem strange to us today.

   1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763

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   She tattled on: first to one, then to the other—then to all, till she had tattled herself out of breath;—and then the orthodox half hour had expired, and the bell was rung, and the carriage ordered, and Mrs. Hare rose to depart.

   1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in Alice or The Mysteries […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book III, pages 297–298

   Synonyms: conservative, conventional · Antonyms: liberal, outlandish, unorthodox

3. Of the eastern churches, Eastern Orthodox.First known use 1772

   Antonyms: Roman Catholic, Western Christianity

4. Of a branch of Judaism.First known use 1853

   Antonyms: liberal, Reform Judaism

5. biologyOf pollen, seed, or spores: viable for a long time; viable when dried to low moisture content.First known use c. 1975

   Antonyms: recalcitrant

comparative more Orthodox · superlative most Orthodox

1. ChristianityOf or pertaining to the Orthodox Churches collectively.
2. broadlyChristianityOf or pertaining to a particular Orthodox Church, usually the Eastern Orthodox Church, sometimes the Oriental Orthodox Church or the Church of the East.
3. JudaismOf or pertaining to Orthodox Judaism.
4. QuakerismOf or pertaining to the Orthodox Quakers, a group of Quakers (subdivided into the Wilburite, Gurneyite and Beaconite branches) who split with the Hicksite Quakers due to favoring adopting mainstream Protestant orthodoxy.

   [...which] Doherty hypothesized as the controlling variable for predicting who would become Orthodox or who would be Hicksite.

   2006, Martha Paxson Grundy, The Evolution of a Quaker Community: Middletown Meeting, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1750-1850

plural Orthodoxes

1. uncommonAn Orthodox Christian.

   The Greek Orthodox population of the 62 bishoprics in 1886 numbered 65,549,096. to which the Orthodoxes of the army and navy must be added.

   1891, John Scott Keltie, The Statesman's Year-Book, MacMillan and Co., page 854

   1 more example

   1984, David Gillard (ed.), British documents on foreign affairs: Reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print, Part I: From the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War, Series B: The Near and Middle East, 1856-1914, page 31. The Greek Catholic priesthood, who proselytize among the Orthodoxes, are specially favoured, and donations are given for Masses in the churches of the Capuchin and the Franciscan Friars.

2. rareAn Orthodox Jew.