Hip Glossary: Dogma
Dogma:
Dog"ma (?), n.; pl. E. Dogmas (#), L. Dogmata (#). [L. dogma, Gr. , pl. , fr. to think, seem, appear; akin to L. decet it is becoming. Cf. Decent.]
1. That which is held as an opinion; a tenet; a doctrine.
The obscure and loose dogmas of early antiquity. Whewell.
2. A formally stated and authoritatively settled doctrine; a definite, established, and authoritative tenet.
3. A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum. 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, especially a religious doctrine; as, the dogmas of the church. A tenet rests on its own intrinsic merits or demerits; a dogma rests on authority 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 undue authority or assumption. this is more fully the case with its derivatives dogmatical and dogmatism.
Source:websters1913dictionary