[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/agnostic.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / agnostic

[← A](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/A/)

# agnostic

«agnostic» in Mova's school dictionary: **A person who believes that we cannot know for sure…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an agnostic, agnostics); adjective (agnostic)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A person who believes that we cannot know for sure whether God exists, so they do not say yes or no. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#m1)

2) (adjective) Not sure or not deciding about something: «I'm agnostic about pineapple on pizza.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#m2)

3) (computers) Working with any kind of system: «a device-agnostic app» works on any phone or computer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In religion and ethics lessons agnostic is set beside believer (theist) and atheist (someone who believes there is no God); pupils learn to respect all three. In everyday and computer talk it means «not choosing a side». Phrases: «an agnostic», «I'm agnostic about…», «platform-agnostic».

### examples

- My uncle says he is an agnostic: he doesn't know if God is real. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x1)
- An atheist says there is no God; an agnostic says we can't be sure. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x2)
- Our class learned that Christians, atheists and agnostics can still be good friends. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x3)
- I'm agnostic about whether cats or dogs are better. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x4)
- The game is platform-agnostic, so it runs on any console. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x5)
- She grew up agnostic but later went to church. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/#x6)

### note

Use «an» because it starts with a vowel sound: «an agnostic». Noun for the belief: agnosticism. Trap: agnostic is not the same as atheist. From Greek «a-» (not) + «gnosis» (knowledge).

### In the corpora

- [An atheist believes there is no God; an agnostic thinks we cannot know whether there is.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/33-buddhism-humanism-and-respect/11/)
- [An agnostic is someone who says we cannot know for sure what happens after death.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/73-what-other-faiths-and-non-religious-people-believe/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «agnostic» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agnostic/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.