Dŏg'mă, n.
n.; Eng. pl. DŏG'MĂS; Lat. pl. DŎG'MA-TA. [Lat. dogma, Gr. δόγμα, from δοκεῖν, to think, seem, appear; Fr. dogme.]
- That which is held as an opinion; a tenet; a doctrine. “The obscure and loose dogmas of early antiquity.” Whewell.
- An established tenet; a settled principle; a peremptory opinion; a formally stated and authoritatively settled doctrine.
- A principle of doctrine that is asserted or taught without sufficient evidence.
Syn.—Tenet; opinion; proposition; doctrine.—DOGMA. TENET. A tenet is that which is maintained as true with great firmness; as, the tenets of our holy religion. A dogma is that which is laid down with authority as indubitably true; as, the dogmas of the church. A tenet rests on its own intrinsic merits or demerits; a dogma rests on what is regarded as competent to decide and determine. Dogma has in our language acquired, to some extent, a repulsive sense, from its carrying with it the idea of authority or undue assumption. This is more fully the case with its derivatives dogmatical and dogmatism. “The dogmas of the Romish church are admitted by none but such as admit its authority; the tenets of republicans, levelers, and freethinkers, have been unblushingly maintained both in public and private.” Crabb.