[f. TRI- + THEISM; cf. Gr. τριθεἶα (f. τρι-, TRI- + θεός God), F. trithéisme (1727 in Littré).] Belief in three Gods; esp. an interpretation of the doctrine of the Trinity according to which the three Persons are three distinct Gods. (Cf. next.)
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. 604. This Trinity is no other than a kind of Tritheism, and that of gods independent and co-ordinate too.
1719. Waterland, Vind. Christ’s Div., Contents, This Assertion,… that there is no Medium between Tritheism and Sabellianism.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 51. In his zeal against Socinians and Sabellians, he [Sherlock] used expressions which might be construed into Tritheism.
1910. Sanday, Christologies, i. 12. The doctrine of the Trinity is not Tritheism.
