orthodox
adjective
Simple meaning
Conforming to the accepted, established, or traditional doctrines of a given faith, religion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awrthuhdahksSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɔɹθədɑks
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Conforming to the accepted, established, or traditional doctrines of a given faith, religion, or ideology.
Adhering to what is commonly accepted
Adhering to whatever is customary, traditional, or generally accepted.
Of a branch of Judaism.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Conforming to the accepted, established, or traditional doctrines of a given faith, religion, or ideology.
Used this way, orthodox is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use orthodox
- “He followed the orthodox traditions of his family's culture.”
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Orthodox
Other combinations
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Of a religion, church etc.: formally recognized by a state as being official within that area.
Conforming to established customs, etc.
Of, relating to, or derived from tradition.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The quality of being orthodox (especially in religion).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Derived from the Byzantine Church and adhering to Byzantine rites.
Jews who strictly observe the Mosaic law as interpreted in the Talmud.
A recurring sleep state during which rapid eye movements do not occur and dreaming does not occur.
Jew who practices strict observance of Mosaic law.
Derived from the Byzantine Church and adhering to Byzantine rites.
Of or relating to or characteristic of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: conforming to the accepted or established
Antonyms
Sense: conforming to the accepted or established
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “orthodox” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.