secularization
Americannoun
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separation from religious or spiritual connection or influences.
The secularization of America can be seen in politics, legal decisions, and educational institutions, as well as in the arts and the media.
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the transfer of property from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use.
There continues to be a debate about the secularization of religious art objects now exhibited in museum settings.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of secularization
Explanation
When something changes from being closely connected to or controlled by religion to being nonreligious, that's secularization. A religious school that's ending its affiliation with a church is undergoing secularization. An institution, government, or society that has no connection to religion is secular, and the process of moving toward being secular is secularization. If a country's population has become less religious or spiritual over time, it's evidence of the secularization of the entire society. Many colleges, including Harvard University for example, were religious institutions until they underwent secularization.
Vocabulary lists containing secularization
World Religions
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Content Summary 6.2: A New Age of Revolutions: Mexico, Russia, and China
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The Contemporary Period, c. 1914 to the Present
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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.
In the latter regard, the authors make the surprising assertion that “if we view secularization as the process of prioritizing political considerations over religious worldviews, then HTS was secularizing.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2025
Whatever triggered this wave of secularization, the effect was to fling open the door to thinking, for the first time since the ancients, that human extinction might be possible.
From Salon • Oct. 8, 2023
The problem, as he sees it, is the secularization of society.
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2023
Instead, Kramer said, the United States appears to be going through a pattern of secularization that has happened in other countries, though “we may be a bit behind.”
From Washington Post • Sep. 13, 2022
After Responsible Government had become an accomplished fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by Upper Canadian Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves.
From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by Dent, John Charles
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.
