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

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

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

This edict of 1616 differed from that issued by Ieyasu in 1614, since the latter did not explicitly prescribe the death-penalty for converts refusing to apostatize.

From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by Brinkley, F. (Frank)

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 Burke, John J. (John James)

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 Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

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