apostatize
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Usage
What does apostatize mean? Apostatize means to totally abandon or reject one’s religion. It can also be used in a slightly more general way to mean to totally abandon or reject one’s principles, cause, party, or other organization. The act of doing so is called apostasy, and someone who does so can be called an apostate. These words typically imply that before the rejection, one had a strong connection or involvement. They are all usually used in a way that’s critical of such abandonment—or that at least implies that others who remain in the religion or cause are critical of the departure. Apostasy is sometimes used more specifically to refer to a rejection of Christianity, but apostasy and apostatize are also used in the context of other religions, such as Islam. Example: The pastor’s sermon condemned those who apostatize—the trouble is, the apostates weren’t there to hear it.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of apostatize
From the Late Latin word apostatīzāre, dating back to 1545–55. See apostate, -ize
Explanation
To apostatize is to give up a belief. Your best friend may do her best to sway you to change your basketball allegiance from the Celtics to the Lakers, but you refuse to apostatize. When someone renounces their religious principles, leaving one faith for another or ceasing to believe at all, they apostatize. The Latin root, apostata, means "one who forsakes religion or faith." This is the most common way to use this verb, but it also works well for changes in political belief: "I never thought he'd apostatize, but he's now a registered Democrat."
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:
The conundrum is one that has nothing to do with Rodrigues’s decision whether to lay down his life, but with his reluctance to apostatize, even in the face of others’ deaths.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2017
If, however, the eldest son consented to apostatize, the estate was settled upon him, the father from that hour became only a life-tenant, and lost all power of selling, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of it.
From Handbook of Home Rule Being articles on the Irish question by Edwin Lawrence Godkin
He certainly kept in the Church many Catholics who were ready to apostatize.
From Saint Augustin by Vincent O'Sullivan
The revolt in Cagayan in 1718 finishes the mission, for its inhabitants apostatize and take to the mountain.
He was immediately cast into prison, and alternate threats and promises were employed to induce him to apostatize.
From Mary, Help of Christians And the Fourteen Saints Invoked as Holy Helpers: Instructions, Novenas and Prayers with Thoughts of the Saints for Every Day in the Year by John J. (John James) Burke
It was a dark hour around the Prophet in Kirtland, many having apostatized, and some of them prominent Elders, when Brother Kimball and some others were called upon to take a mission to England.
From Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle The Father and Founder of the British Mission by Orson F. Whitney
But when no Portuguese ship arrived, he apostatized; ordered his vassals to return to their old faith, and expelled the missionaries.
From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by F. (Frank) Brinkley
One whom I knew well, though he was not of our Mission, apostatized to save his life, and died most miserably, abandoned by his new fellow-religionists, and tenderly watched by those whom he had left.
From Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 by James Kennedy
He carried them back, and on arriving in Iowa Territory he burned them, at which time he apostatized and left the Church.
From Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle The Father and Founder of the British Mission by Orson F. Whitney
Their constancy repaired the scandal given by Eudæmon, the bishop of Smyrna, there present, who had impiously apostatized and offered sacrifice.
From The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints January, February, March by Alban Butler
Let us just see, in reference not to mere words, but to things, what can be truly meant by the terms ‘apostate or apostatizing Government,’ as applied to the Government of Great Britain.
From Leading Articles on Various Subjects by John Davidson
Without openly apostatizing, they insisted on a measure of independence.
From The Story of the Mormons, from the date of their origin to the year 1901 by William Alexander Linn
It must not be supposed from the frequent quotations from Countess von Stachelberg's condemnations of German cruelties that she was an unpatriotic woman, repudiating, apostatizing from her own country.
From Mrs. Warren's Daughter A Story of the Woman's Movement by Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston
Therefore we ought not to refuse allegiance to a sovereign on account of his apostatizing from the faith.
From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Saint Thomas Aquinas
The term apostate, or apostatizing, can have only an official meaning.
From Leading Articles on Various Subjects by John Davidson
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.
