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doctrinaire

used in a sentence
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Definition stubbornly insistent on theory without regard for practicality or suitability
  • doctrinaire insistence that...
  • a doctrinaire failure to adapt to new circumstances
  • Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.
    James D. Watson
  • I could recall my father's voice, doctrinaire, relentless.
    John Wyndham  --  The Chrysalids
  • One so garish-albeit compiled with extreme conviction-it would be laughed out of our most rigidly doctrinaire courts.
    Robert Ludlum  --  The Bourne Ultimatum
  • The word _doctrinaire_—word full of terror to the British mind—reappeared from time to time between his explosions.
    Oscar Wilde  --  The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • The American government isn't going to get stuck on any set of fancy doctrinaire ideas.
    Robert M. Pirsig  --  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
  • The mistake or the misfortune of the doctrinarian party was to create aged youth.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • Nothing doctrinaire.
    Robert A. Heinlein  --  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
  • Standing well at court, whether the king regnant was of the older or younger branch, whether the government was doctrinaire liberal, or conservative; looked upon by all as a man of talent, since those who have never experienced a political check are generally so regarded; hated by many, but warmly supported by others, without being really liked by anybody, M. de Villefort held a high position in the magistracy, and maintained his eminence like a Harlay or a Mole.
    Alexandre Dumas  --  The Count of Monte Cristo
  • In all that is said by the doctrinarian objection above presented, there is no question of anything but effect, we seek the cause.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • Since the revolution, everything, including the ballet-dancers, has had its trousers; a mountebank dancer must be grave; your rigadoons are doctrinarian.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • Where the ultras were very proud, the doctrinarians were rather ashamed.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • Beginning with 1818, doctrinarians began to spring up in them, a disturbing shade.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • It is thus that doctrinarians criticised and protected Royalism, which was displeased at criticism and furious at protection.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables
  • Their fathers in the flesh had been, either royalists, doctrinaires, it matters not what; this confusion anterior to themselves, who were young, did not concern them at all; the pure blood of principle ran in their veins.
    Victor Hugo  --  Les Miserables

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