Aristos GeorgiouHelena SmithChristopher HowseR. E. WinnNathaniel HawthorneCharles Dudley WarnerPeter Scott BrownScott McMurray
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The Uses and Origins of Heathen and Pagan
Heathen is a dated term used primarily of someone who is not religious, or whose religion is not Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity. It is also sometimes used disapprovingly of someone who is not cultured; this use is also dated.
In current use, pagan is most commonly used of someone who practices a contemporary form of paganism, such as Wicca, making the word synonymous with neo-pagan. But pagan also has meanings identical to those of heathen; in those uses it too is dated. Additionally, pagan has literary use referring to a nonreligious person who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods.
The origins of heathen and pagan are semantically similar. Heathen likely comes from a term for a country inhabitant—in particular, a “heath dweller.” The Latin source of pagan, paganus, originally meant “country dweller” or “civilian;” it was used at the end of the Roman Empire to refer to people who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, and especially to those who worshiped multiple deities. It’s believed that the religious meanings of paganus developed either from the enduring non-Christian religious practices of those who lived far from the Roman cities where Christianity was more quickly adopted, or from the fact that early Christians referred to themselves as “soldiers of Christ,” making nonbelievers “civilians.”
Examples of pagan in a Sentence
Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2025
In the Book of Acts, the pagans of Athens gathered to hear the gospel preached by Paul.
—Brooke L. Rollins, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025
Church officials decided to recognize Dec. 25 as his birthday, probably to coincide with the date of pagan festivals in an attempt to get pagans to accept Christianity as the official religion.
—Atlanta Life, ajc, 10 Nov. 2017
While plague stalks the land, paranoid peasants swap cautionary folk tales about evil spirits, pagans, Jews and other outsiders.
—Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2017
Thomas Jefferson had strong views on religion, but his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom disestablished the Church of Englandand established religious liberty for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, even pagans.
—Jonah Goldberg, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 Sep. 2017
Lance Wallnau, a Christian author, claimed God spoke to him and showed him that Trump was like King Cyrus, who followed God’s will despite being a pagan.
—Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2017
To do Trumpzilla justice, the film should be blustery, spectacular, gold-garish, and neo-pagan, a Circus Maximus Cecil B. DeMille might have whipped up with his riding crop after a fever dream.
—James Wolcott, HWD, 19 June 2017
Sarah Hutter, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
Both Leader and Walton’s works saw a rise in popularity in the 70s as many women became interested in pagan religions, which often depicted female mythological figures as powerful and complex.
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
When a rigid, devoutly Christian cop (Edward Woodward) arrives in search of a missing girl, he's horrified by the island's embrace of pagan rituals.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025
This pagan tradition took place on October 31 when the Celts believed the veil between the physical world and the spirit realm was thinnest, with ceremonial fires and rituals taking place to mark the conclusion of one pastoral year, and the entry into the next.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2025
The History Blog noted that King Knut led campaigns against pagan groups to spread Christianity.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 12 Oct. 2025
Just before the combine, though, Cam, while practicing alone at night, is struck in the head by a strange pagan spirit-slash-mascot that emerges out of the shadows.
—Jake Coyle, Boston Herald, 19 Sep. 2025
These wooden churches were once common across the country, built when Christianity was still new and pagan traditions lingered.
—David Nikel, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Previous defense motions have also claimed that German and Williams' murders were actually a ritual sacrifice committed by Odinists, members of a pagan religion linked with White nationalism, per CNN.
—Jordana Comiter, People.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pagan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pagan. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pagan
noun
Noun
Middle English pagan "heathen," from Latin paganus (same meaning), from earlier paganus "person who lives in a rural area," from pagus "village, district"
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