apostatize

American  

[uh-pos-tuh-tahyz] / əˈpɒs təˌtaɪz /

especially British, apostatise

verb (used without object)

apostatized, apostatizing

1. to commit apostasy.

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apostatize British  

/ əˈpɒstəˌtaɪz /

verb

1. (intr) to forsake or abandon one's belief, faith, or allegiance

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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

• apostatism
  noun
• unapostatized
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of apostatize

From the Late Latin word apostatīzāre, dating back to 1545–55. See apostate, -ize

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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

See Examples For:

apostatize apostatized apostatizing

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

The angel of the church in Smyrna is supposed to have been Polycarp, who, rather than to apostatize, was burnt alive in that city about A. D. 166.

From A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse by Sylvester Bliss

The districts where Christianity had been so widely diffused remained tranquil, and the Christians in the cities where the mutineers were raging did not apostatize; but, unless they could conceal themselves, suffered with the whites. 

From Pioneers and Founders or, Recent Workers in the Mission field by Charlotte Mary Yonge

The revolt in Cagayan in 1718 finishes the mission, for its inhabitants apostatize and take to the mountain.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XLIII, 1670-1700 by Various

Suppressing, at once, all the monasteries existing in the country, and giving their property to the nobles who were willing to apostatize.

From Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Augustus J. Thebaud

‘Oh! dear father,’ she would say, ‘I have dreadfully apostatized from Christ.’

From The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, Bay State Monthly, Volume 4, No. 4, April, 1886 by Various

"Father," said Ben with a sigh, "I know that many people here in Boston think I never had any religion; or, that if I had I have apostatized from it."

From The Life of Benjamin Franklin With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographers by Mason Locke Weems

In the case of converts in health there was far more preparation; yet these often apostatized.

From Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour by Francis Parkman

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

In the fourteen years that Brother Joseph presided over the Church, three of the prominent counselors he had apostatized.

From Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle The Father and Founder of the British Mission by Orson F. Whitney

Many, like him, were apostatizing and dividing into factions, but the main body of the Saints, "taking the Holy Spirit for their guide," stood true to Brigham and the Twelve.

From Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle The Father and Founder of the British Mission by Orson F. Whitney

The first is the movement of the free-will towards God, and is an act of faith quickened by charity; and against this a man acts by apostatizing from the faith.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas

What was the fountain of this people's corruption, and apostatizing from their professions?

From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

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

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

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