gnostic Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an advocate of Gnosticism
  2. adjective of or relating to Gnosticism
    • Gnostic writings
  3. adjective possessing intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things

WordNet

Gnos"tic adjective
Definitions
  1. Knowing; wise; shrewd. Old Slang
    I said you were a gnostic fellow. Sir W. Scott.
  2. (Eccl. Hist.) Of or pertaining to Gnosticism or its adherents; as, the Gnostic heresy.
Gnos"tic noun
Etymology
L. gnosticus, Gr. good at knowing, sagacious; as a n., man that claims to have a deeper wisdom, fr. gignw`skein to know: cf. F. gnostique. See Know.
Definitions
  1. (Eccl. Hist.) One of the so-called philosophers in the first ages of Christianity, who claimed a true philosophical interpretation of the Christian religion. Their system combined Oriental theology and Greek philosophy with the doctrines of Christianity. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived from the Deity by successive emanations, which they called Eons.

Webster 1913