- irreligious
- irreligious, unreligious, nonreligious, ungodly, godless mean not religious or not devoted to the ends of religion.Irreligious is not only the most common of the negative forms of religious but the most clearly defined in meaning, for it implies not merely lack of religion but hostility to religion or courses in opposition to it or in violation of its precepts{
that non-churchgoers are not necessarily irreligious— Streit
}It may even suggest impiety, immorality, or blasphemy{it is unworthy a religious man to view an irreligious one either with alarm or aversion— Carlyle
}{they are so irreligious that they exploit popular religion for professional purposes without delicacy or scruple— Shaw
}Unreligious, a somewhat uncommon term, implies nothing more than lack of religion; it therefore applies aptly to men, their utterances, or their works and suggests merely the absence of religion or of religious training or religious ideas{the popular poetry . . . became . . . unreligious ... in some parts irreligious— Milman
}Nonreligious applies not so much to persons as to institutions, activities, projects, and themes for art that are outside the sphere or province of religion or not under the control of a religious body; it therefore comes close in meaning to secular (see under PROFANE 1){nonreligious education
}{nonreligious charitable societies
}{made it hard for them to trust a nonreligious institution, such as the State University— Amer. Guide Series: Ind.
}Ungodly often comes close to irreligious, but it carries a stronger suggestion of disobedience to or defiance of divine law{blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly— Ps 1:1
}{they decided to leave so ungodly a land— Usher
}Godless commonly implies atheism or agnosticism and often definitely implies rejection of religion{godless philosopher}}
}{godless teachings
}{here were decent godless people: their only monument the asphalt road— T. S. Eliot
}{fiercely predicting the end of Lorenzo and all his godless court— Moorehead
}Antonyms: religiousContrasted words: pious, *devout
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
