doctrinaire

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Despite all evidence to the contrary, Marshall still believed,” in Mr. Dikötter’s words, that the Communists “were not doctrinaire ideologists, but merely rural reformers who could help shape a democratic China.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

"The modernism that was around before the 1980s was very grey, restrictive, utilitarian and quite doctrinaire really," Farrell said.

From BBC • Sep. 29, 2025

After State Department officials raised the legal issue in one situation room meeting, Kissinger said scornfully: "We shouldn't decide this on such doctrinaire grounds."

From Salon • Dec. 10, 2023

But, ever curious, Lidholm didn’t stay a doctrinaire serialist for long, and the 18-minute “Poesis” is an exploration of elemental sound and stark drama without reliance on stylistic rules.

From New York Times • Feb. 3, 2023

We sometimes take pride at the present day in professing a distrust for doctrinaire or metaphysical politics, and we are no doubt right; but that reproach cannot justly be levelled against the English economists.

From Contemporary Socialism by Rae, John