skeptic, sceptic (skeptik)

and n. merly also skeptick, sceptick; = OF. sceptique, F. sceptique = Sp. esceptico = Pg. sceptico = It. scettico, tical. All knowing ages being naturally skeptick , and not at all bigotted: which, if I am not much deceived, is the proper character of our own. IMG:content-1191.png:[blocks in formation] deny anything in regard to reality as opposed to appearance. He is a scepticke, and dares hardly give credit to his senses. Bp. Hall, Characters (1608), p. 151. ( Latham.) It may seem a very extravagant attempt of the sceptics to destroy reason by argument and ratiocination; yet this is the grand scope of all their inquiries and disputes. Hume , Human Understanding, xii. 2. 2. One who doubts or disbelieves the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. How many objections would the Infidels and Scepticks of our Age have made against such a Me age as this to Nineveh! Stilling fleet, Sermons, II. iv. 3. [ cap .] An adherent of a philosophical school in ancient Greece. The first group of this school con- sisted of Pyrrho and his immediate followers (see Pyr- rhonic); the second group formed the so-called Middle Academy, le radical than Pyrrho; and the third group (Enes idem us in the first century, Sextus, etc.) returned in part to the doctrines of Pyrrho. Ueberweg. 4. One who doubts concerning the truth of any particular proposition; one who has a ten- dency to question the virtue and integrity of most persons. Whatever sceptic could inquire for, For every why he had a wherefore. S. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 131. =Syn. 2. Unbeliever, Free - thinker, etc. See infidel. skeptical, sceptical (skep'ti-kal), a. [ If any one pretends to be so sceptical as to deny his own existence, let him for me enjoy his beloved happine of being nothing, until hunger or some other pain convince him of the contrary. Locke , Human Understanding, IV. x. §2. The plausibility of Hume's sceptical treatment of the objective or thinking consciousne really depends on his extravagant conce ions to the subjective or sensitive consciousne . E. Caird , Philos. of Kant, p. 71. 2. Making, involving, or characterizing disbelief in the principles of religion. The sceptical system subverts the whole foundation of morals. R. Hall . sker, a skerry, isolated rock in the sea, = Sw. skär Dan. skjær: see scar2.] 1. A rocky isle; an insulated rock; a reef. [Scotch.] Loudly through the wide-flung door Came the roar Of the sea upon the Skerry. Long fellow, Saga of King Olaf, The Skerry of Shrieks, 1. 9. 2. A loose angular fragment of rock; rubble; slither; ratchel. [Prov. Eng.] In working marls, great trouble is experienced from skerry or impure limestone, which abounds in marl. C. T. Davis , Bricks and Tiles, p. 55. sketch (skech), n . [Formerly schetse (the term. being later conformed to E. analogies), skizze = Dan. skizze = Sw. ski = F. esqui e = Sp. esquicio , all schizzo , rough draft of a thing, L. schedium , a thing made hastily, schedius , hastily made, σχέδιος , sudden, offhand, also near, close to, σχέσις , habit, state, σχετικός , retentive, σχεῖν , ἔχειν , hold: see scheme.] 1. A brief, slight, or hasty delineation; a rapid or offhand presentation of the e ential facts of anything; a rough draft; an outline: as, in literature, the sketch of an event, a character, or a career. The first schetse of a comedy, called "The Paradox." Dr. Pope, Life of Bp. Ward (1697), p. 149. (Latham.) However beautiful and considerable these Antiquities are, yet the Designs that have been taken of them hitherto have been rather Sketches , they say, than accurate and exact Plans. T. Hollis , in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 380. Boyish histories Of battle, bold adventure, and true love Crown'd after trial; sketches rude and faint, But where a pa ion yet unborn perhaps Lay hidden. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 2. In art: (a) The first suggestive embodiment of an artist's idea as expre ed on canvas, or on paper, or in the clay model, upon which his more finished performance is to be elaborated or built up. (b) A slight transcript from nature of the human figure, or of any object, made in crayon or chalk with simple shading, or any rough draft in colors, taken with the object of securing for the artist the materials skeptical smile. Captain Lawton entertained a profound respect for the surgical abilities of his comrade, but was very sceptical on the subject of administering internally for the ailings of the human frame. Cooper , The Spy, ix. Skeptical school. See school1. Skeptical suspension of judgment. See critical suspension of judgment, under critical. skeptically, sceptically (skep'ti-kal-i), adv. In a skeptical manner, in any sense of the word; with skepticism.