sceptic

«sceptic» in Mova's school dictionary: a person who doubts whether something is true and wants… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a sceptic, sceptics); adjective sceptical

meaning for a pupil

1) A sceptic is a person who doubts whether something is true and wants to see evidence before believing it. tree →

2) A sceptic may doubt a particular idea, like "a climate sceptic", or doubt religious beliefs. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, a healthy sceptic asks for evidence, tests claims and checks sources; online safety teaches pupils to be sceptical of fake news. In stories, the sceptic is the one who does not believe in ghosts until they see one. Phrases: "a bit of a sceptic", "remain a sceptic", "sceptical about".

examples

• My dad is a sceptic about adverts that promise miracles. tree →
• Scientists should be sceptics until there is good evidence. tree →
• Tom was a sceptic about ghosts until he heard the noise in the attic. tree →
• Be sceptical of websites that don't say who wrote them. tree →
• Even the sceptics were impressed by the magician. tree →
• She remained a sceptic about the new diet. tree →

note

British spelling: sceptic, sceptical; American spelling: skeptic, skeptical. Pronounced SKEP-tik (the c is hard, like k). Do not confuse with "septic" (infected with germs, as in a septic wound or septic tank), which sounds different.

In the corpora

• Christians believe God can act in the world; sceptics doubt that miracles happen; some Christians read some miracle stories symbolically.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sceptic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.