recusant vs heretic

recusant and heretic both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
recusant	Yes	Yes	No	No
heretic	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, heretic is a hyponym of recusant; that is, heretic is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than recusant:

recusant: someone who refuses to conform to established standards of conduct
heretic: a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion)

Other hyponyms of recusant include beat, beatnik, bohemian, enfant terrible, maverick, rebel.

recusant (noun)	heretic (noun)
someone who refuses to conform to established standards of conduct	a person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church
	a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion)

recusant (adjective)	heretic (adjective)
refusing to submit to authority
(of Catholics) refusing to attend services of the Church of England