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
He certainly kept in the Church many Catholics who were ready to apostatize.
From Saint Augustin by Vincent O'Sullivan
If ever he did apostatize, he was bound by a solemn promise to the Emperor of Morocco to turn Mussulman.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 2 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
A man may also apostatize from God, by rebelling in his mind against the Divine commandments: and though man may apostatize in both the above ways, he may still remain united to God by faith.
From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Saint Thomas Aquinas
By backsliding is meant the gradual turning back or away from God; to apostatize.
From The Gospel Day Or, the Light of Christianity by Charles Ebert Orr
He apostatized, and seems to have betrayed the names of his penitents.
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Henry Charles Lea
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
The first is the view of some of the Manichean teachers, that spirits were embodied by a hostile violence and cunning, the force and fraud of the apostatized Devil.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger
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
Coke had died of old age; Cotton's heart was broken by oppression; Eliot had perished in the Tower; Wentworth had apostatized.
From History of the English People, Volume V Puritan England, 1603-1660 by John Richard Green
Subsequently apostatizing from him and uniting with Mr. Jason W. Briggs, in forming the "Reorganized church."
From Succession in the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by B. H. Roberts
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
Every opportunity was given for apostatizing and for escaping death.
From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by F. (Frank) Brinkley
The term apostate, or apostatizing, can have only an official meaning.
From Leading Articles on Various Subjects by John Davidson
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