doctrinaire
"doctrinaire" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doctrinaire” is an uncommon English word, ranked #94,784 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #94,784
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who stubbornly holds to a philosophy or opinion regardless of its feasibility.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | doctrinaire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #94,784 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doctrinaire” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for doctrinaire is 11 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #94,784 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
doctrinaire has no tracked misspelling variants; the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French doctrinaire, from doctrine + -aire. The correct English form is doctrinaire, spelled D-O-C-T-R-I-N-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A person who stubbornly holds to a philosophy or opinion regardless of its feasibility.
- 2In France, in 1815–30, one of a school who desired a constitution like that of Britain.
Etymology
Borrowed from French doctrinaire, from doctrine + -aire.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “doctrinaire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-C-T-R-I-N-A-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.