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
The upshot was that he advised Nathan not to apostatize too suddenly.
From A Daughter of Eve by Honoré de Balzac
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
He had made Phocyas apostatize from his religion; after which the abhorrence of Eudocia would have been reasonable, his misery would have been just, and the horrours of his repentance exemplary.
From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Samuel Johnson
How could men apostatize from a cause which they had served with unflinching fidelity until it was completely triumphant?
From Political Recollections 1840 to 1872 by George W. Julian
In what spirit the State regarded its relations with the Holy Office was exhibited in 1356, when Frà Michele da Pisa, the Inquisitor of Treviso, imprisoned some Jewish converts who had apostatized.
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
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
"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
The bolder portion of these malecontents have already apostatized.
From Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 by Various
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
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
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
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
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
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.
