Manichean
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- noun
- /ˌmænɪˈkiːən/
- In its intimation of interpretive surplus, Borges's story-poem seems to caution the reader toward the dangers of the Manichean bent of the modern temperament, whereby we find it easier to relate to the idea of things than to things and to people themselves.
- Manichean terms
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Watch on YouTubeIt's also used to describe religious communities like that of the Manicheans or that of the Montanus or that of the Aryans.
- It's also used to describe religious communities like that of the Manicheans or that of the Montanus or that of the Aryans.
Examples
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But the world is not always so clearly divided in a Manichean way.
Academic text (1991) -
And suffice it to say that he actually bought into the Manicheans for a while and he had to see what they had to offer.
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In this infantile cognitive position, the world is constructed in exclusively Manichean terms.
Academic text (1997) -
The Manichean outlook leads to the demonization of the most salient of those adversaries.
Academic text (2013) -
For some nine years beginning around 375, Augustine actively adhered to the Manichean sect.
Academic text (1990) -
Some Bosnian Muslims, however, claim that they are descended from the Bogomils, who were a heretical Manichean sect.
Academic text (1997) -
Michel concluded that the Reformers had successfully convinced the public that their battle was "a Manichean contest of good vs. evil, of honest men... fighting against a cabal of corrupt military officers and contractors."
Academic text (2017) -
Two central conflicts drive the story: the clash between the hippies and the rednecks, painted in Manichean terms, and the debate over nonviolence between Jean and Billy, presented evenhandedly.
Academic text (2017) -
Some of these stylistic features suggest the Puritans' Manichean mentality, as does another reading—Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."
Academic text (1997) -
Augustine's journey from a Manichean to a Christian faith illustrates the conflicts in his early beliefs.
Synonyms
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A person who follows an ancient religion that teaches a struggle between good and evil
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A person who follows an ancient religion that says the world is a struggle between light and darkness
Surface Forms
Morphology
Manichean = Manichaeism (transparent) = Maniche + an
The noun meaning 'an adherent of Manichaeism' is formed by the familiar relational/agentive suffix '-an' on the religion name.
Etymology
Manichean originally names a follower of Mani and his faith Manichaeism, a teaching that the world is made of two opposite forces, 'good' and 'evil'. That is why a Manichean is someone who believes in a strict, two-sided view of life.