baptize
Americanverb (used with object)
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baptizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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baptized,
past participle, past
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baptizing
present participle
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to immerse in water or sprinkle or pour water on in the Christian rite of baptism.
They baptized the new baby.
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to cleanse spiritually; initiate or dedicate by purifying.
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to give a name to at baptism; christen.
verb (used without object)
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baptizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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baptized,
past participle, past
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baptizing
present participle
verb
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Christianity to immerse (a person) in water or sprinkle water on (a person) as part of the rite of baptism
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(tr) to give a name to; christen
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(tr) to cleanse; purify
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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baptizementnoun
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baptizernoun
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self-baptizernoun
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rebaptizeverb
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baptizableadjective
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unbaptizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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baptizesimple
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baptizessimple
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have baptizedperfect
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has baptizedperfect
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am baptizingprogressive
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are baptizingprogressive
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is baptizingprogressive
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have been baptizingperfect progressive
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has been baptizingperfect progressive
Past
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baptizedsimple
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had baptizedperfect
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was baptizingprogressive
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were baptizingprogressive
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had been baptizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of baptize
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Late Latin baptizāre, from Greek baptízein “to immerse,” from bápt(ein) “to dip” + -izein -ize
Explanation
To baptize is the ritual of bringing someone into the religion of Christianity. It’s usually when little babies get their heads sprinkled with water in a church. The word baptize comes from Greek baptizein which means, "to dip in water." That’s what happens when you get baptized — you get sprinkled with or dunked in water by someone official from a church. Christian parents often choose to baptize their babies, but adults can get baptized, too.
Vocabulary lists containing baptize
World Religions
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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Selection Vocabulary 4, Unit 2
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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.
See Examples For:
He then excused himself to help baptize a woman near the stage.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
He also hastily arranged to baptize Abel at Cathedral Chapel of St. Vibiana, the same chapel where he married Alice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Both at Casa del Migrante and Agape, some migrants ask Murphy and Rivera to baptize them.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2023
The audience murmured and clapped as he recounted a well-worn story about using water from Israel’s Sea of Galilee to baptize his children.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2023
Two months after Deborah’s stroke, we went to Pullum’s church to watch him baptize Sonny’s nine-month-old baby granddaughter, JaBrea.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Miraculous moments in the story, such as water welling from a rock where Patrick later baptizes people, play out in a quiet tone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
Her church baptizes people in it, and she has seen people cross it on foot.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
But in an explanatory note accompanying its decision, it recalled that when a priest baptizes someone, it is actually Christ performing the sacrament, not the community.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2022
Arkansas baptizes Texas in the cool, refreshing waters of SEC dominance.
From Fox News ● Sep. 12, 2021
With financial help from her boyfriend, she baptizes seven-year-old Diana.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
That same sea that baptized me is, for thousands of others, a grave.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
A new breeze baptized us in another vile stink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Saint Augustine and the Dominican friar who baptized me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
The first missionary arrived on Easter Island in 1864: By 1868 all the islanders had been baptized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
But I can prove that I have been baptized or married: these are documented facts.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The Russian Orthodox church was established in Alaska on Kodiak Island in 1794 and missionaries spread the faith, baptizing an estimated 18,000 Alaska Natives.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2023
What Mr. Porter said he did remember was wading into the church’s pool and baptizing himself — or, as he claims, having his head held down in the font by “something.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
We like to merge worlds to create really absurd situations, so she was like, ‘What if it’s the NBA slam dunk contest, but with deacons baptizing babies at church?’
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2023
When asked what he would say if he were baptizing someone as a newly devout Bitcoiner, maybe in the warm waters of South Beach, Melder ad-libbed.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2022
It had been built some fifty years back, hidden in the woods, right near the river just in case somebody needed baptizing.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
