heathen Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who does not acknowledge your god
    infidel; pagan; gentile.
  2. adjective satellite not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam
    ethnic; pagan; heathenish.

WordNet

Hea"then noun
Etymology
OE. hethen, AS. hen, prop. an adj. fr. h heath, and orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin to OS. hin, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide, OHG. heidan, Icel. heiinn, adj., Sw. heden, Goth. haipn, n. fem. See Heath, and cf. Hoiden.
Wordforms
plural Heathens or collectively Heathen
Definitions
  1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.
  2. An irreligious person.
    If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. V. Knox.
    Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Ps. ii. 8.
    Syn. -- Pagan; gentile. See Pagan.
Hea"then adjective
Definitions
  1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. "The heathen philosopher." "All in gold, like heathen gods." Shak.
  2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.
  3. Irreligious; scoffing.

Webster 1913