ˈdäktrə̇n noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin doctrina, from doctor teacher
1. archaic : teaching , instruction
He … said unto them in his doctrine , Hearken — Mark 4:2(Authorized Version)
2.
a. : something that is taught : something that is held, put forth as true, and supported by a teacher, a school, or a sect
the doctrine and lore of the early fathers
b. : a principle or position or the body of principles in any branch of knowledge : a principle of faith : tenet , dogma
the doctrine of atoms
Christian doctrine
c. : a principle of law established through past decisions and interpretations
the doctrine of caveat emptor
d. : a formulation of the principles on which a government proposes to base its actions or policy in some matter especially in the field of international relations
the Truman doctrine
the Monroe doctrine
3. obsolete : learning , knowledge
Synonyms:
dogma , tenet : doctrine may indicate a formulated theory supported or not controverted by evidence, backed or sanctioned by authority, and proposed for acceptance; it may refer to authoritative teaching accepted by a body of believers or adherents
the doctrine of Einstein, which sweeps away axioms so familiar to us that they seem obvious truths, and substitutes others which seem absurd because they are unfamiliar — Havelock Ellis
there was also a nascent theory of sound waves; and out of it there grew a tremendous mathematical doctrine of waves which nowadays has almost come to dominate the physics of these times — K.K.Darrow
dogma applies to authoritative teaching or ruling laid down or promulgated as true and unquestionable
those who rejected the Marxist dogma found it easy to accept the dogma of those racists who represented Hitler as a modern synthesis of Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Nietzsche, and Kaiser Wilhelm II — Quincy Howe
he sees orthodox science, despite all its achievements, become now the most dangerous enemy of a true philosophy, because its dogmas are least often questioned — J.W.Krutch
the dogma of the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary
tenet may apply to any principle or opinion generally believed, whether taught and actively maintained or not
the other tenet of his materialism is that supernaturalism, though it may have a certain practical justification for the majority of men, has no rational basis — Vivian J. McGill
sympathy for the afflicted, a Christian tenet, has done much to alleviate the sufferings of these unfortunate people — V.G.Heiser