doubting Thomas

A person who habitually questions every issue. The term alludes to Jesus’s disciple Thomas, who refused to believe in the resurrec- tion until he had solid evidence of it (recounted in the Book of John, 20:24–25). The term has been applied to similarly doubtful individuals ever since, although the exact wording dates only from the late 1800s. W. C. Wyckoff used it: “Doubting Thomases, who will only believe what they see, must wait awhile” (Harper’s Magazine, June 1883).