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gentile

Use the word gentile to mean non-Jewish, like the gentile friend you invite to your family's Passover Seder because she's curious about Jewish religious traditions.

When Gentile is a noun, it's usually capitalized, and it's most frequently used to contrast a Christian with a Jew. There are other religions that use the word gentile to describe a non-believer, including Mormonism and Hinduism. More generally, gentile refers to a person who doesn't acknowledge a particular god or belief. The root is the Latin gentilis, whose meaning of "fellow countryman or family member" changed over time to mean "foreign, heathen, pagan."

DEFINITIONS OF: gentile

1

n a Christian as contrasted with a Jew

Synonyms:
goy, non-Jew
Types:
shegetz
an offensive term for non-Jewish young man
Type of:
Christian
a religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination

n a Christian

“Christians refer to themselves as gentiles
Type of:
Christian
a religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination

n a person who does not acknowledge your god

Synonyms:
heathen, infidel, pagan
Types:
paynim
a heathen; a person who is not a Christian (especially a Muslim)
idol worshiper, idolater, idoliser, idolizer
a person who worships idols
idolatress
a woman idolater
Type of:
nonreligious person
a person who does not manifest devotion to a deity

n a person who is not a member of one's own religion; used in this sense by Mormons and Hindus

Type of:
individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul
a human being

adj belonging to or characteristic of non-Jewish peoples

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