deism
noun
ˈdÄ-
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Belief in God based on reason rather than revelation or the teaching of any specific religion is known as deism. The word originated in England in the early 17th century as a rejection of orthodox Christianity. Deists asserted that reason could find evidence of God in nature and that God had created the world and then left it to operate under the natural laws devised by God. By the late 18th century, deism was the dominant religious attitude among Europe’s educated classes; it was accepted by many upper-class Americans of the same era, including the first three US presidents.
Examples of deism in a Sentence
Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2022
Those intuitions usually commended a staid deism and scorn for those whose beliefs extended any further.
—Jeffrey Collins, WSJ, 12 Mar. 2021
Our Founding Fathers were mostly influenced by deism.
—WSJ, 15 Jan. 2021
These concepts readily passed from Rousseau’s sentimental deism, to Hegel’s doctrine of world-historical progress, to Marx, and to progressivism today.
—John D. Hagen, National Review, 20 Aug. 2020
And yet Kelso returned to a kind of deism after the war.
—D.g. Hart, WSJ, 22 Aug. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Deism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deism. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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