doctrine

C1 Topic:Philosophy & Reasoning

Also spelled doctines

US /ˈdɑk.tɹɪn/ UK /ˈdɒk.tɹɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #16392

Meanings

1

noun
A set of beliefs taught by a religion, political group, or other organization.

The Incarnation is a basic doctrine of Christianity.
2

noun
An official government policy, especially about how a country deals with others.

The Monroe Doctrine shaped American foreign policy for decades.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a set of beliefs taught by... philosophyschool of thought

Word family

Forms doctrines

Derived forms counterdoctrinedoctrinabledoctrinelessdoctrinismendoctrineundoctrined

Related forms docent docile doctor doctorate doctrinaire doctrinaldoctrinallydoctrinizationdoctrinizedocument indoctrinate

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

philosophical doctrine
a principle or set of beliefs accepted within a philosophical system

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Doctrine comes from the same Latin family as doctor, “teacher,” and originally referred to the action of teaching.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin doctrina (“teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge”), from doctor (“a teacher”), from docere (“to teach”); see doctor.

*deḱ- Proto-Indo-European doctrina Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Philosophy & Reasoning General Vocabulary

External links

# doctrine

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɑk.tɹɪn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɒk.tɹɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 16392

## Meanings
1. A set of beliefs taught by a religion, political group, or other organization.
2. An official government policy, especially about how a country deals with others.

## Examples
- The Incarnation is a basic doctrine of Christianity.
- The Monroe Doctrine shaped American foreign policy for decades.

## Derived Forms
- counterdoctrine
- doctrinable
- doctrineless
- doctrinism
- endoctrine
- undoctrined

## Related Forms
- docent
- docile
- doctor
- doctorate
- doctrinaire
- doctrinal
- doctrinally
- doctrinization
- doctrinize
- document
- indoctrinate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *deḱ-
- Root: doctrina

## Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin doctrina (“teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge”), from doctor (“a teacher”), from docere (“to teach”); see doctor.

## AI Etymology
Doctrine comes from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin doctrina (“teaching, instruction, learning, knowledge”), from doctor (“a teacher”), from docere (“to teach”); see doctor. The historical chain includes *deḱ- (Proto-Indo-European) and doctrina (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as counterdoctrine, doctrinable, doctrineless, and doctrinism and related forms such as docent, docile, and doctor. In present use it covers a set of beliefs taught by a religion, political group, or other organization and an official government policy, especially about how a country deals with others.

## Topics
- Philosophy & Reasoning
- General Vocabulary

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