Word.ws English Dictionary

scepsis

/ˈskɛpsɪs/

scepsis noun: skepticism; a skeptical approach or belief.

Noun

scepsis (uncountable)

  1. (uncommon) Skepticism; a skeptical approach or belief.
    • Among their products were the system of Locke, the scepsis of Hume, the critical philosophy of Kant.1862 October 13, James Martineau, The Transient and the Permanent in Theology: An Address at the Opening of the Session of Manchester New College […], published 1862, page 4
    • On the one side it is seen that the sole basis of philosophy is experience, and on the other that scepsis has shaken the credibility of experience.1875, Albert Schwegler, translated by James Hutchison Stirling, Handbook of the History of Philosophy, page 279

Examples of scepsis in a sentence

  • Permanent scepsis is, after all, the condition sine qua non of not only philosophy but also of all true social action.1973, Praxis, volume 9/10, page 91:
  • The connection with opīnor ‘to suspect’ is difficult for semantic reasons; EM regard it with scepsis.2008, Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, →ISBN, page 432:

Forms of scepsis

alternative formskepsis

Origin of scepsis

From Latinized form of Ancient Greek σκέψις (sképsis, “examination, observation, consideration”). See skeptic.

Words formed from scepsis

Questions about scepsis

What does scepsis mean?
Scepsis means skepticism; a skeptical approach or belief.
How do you use scepsis in a sentence?
Permanent scepsis is, after all, the condition sine qua non of not only philosophy but also of all true social action.
What part of speech is scepsis?
Scepsis is a noun.
How do you pronounce scepsis?
Scepsis is pronounced /ˈskɛpsɪs/.

Words near scepsis in the dictionary

  1. scents out
  2. scentscape
  3. scentscapes
  4. scentwood
  5. scentwoods
  6. scepsis
  7. scepter
  8. scepterdom
  9. sceptered
  10. scepterellate
  11. sceptering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scepsis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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