secularize

[ sek-yuh-luh-rahyz ]

/ ˈsɛk yə ləˌraɪz /

verb (used with object), sec·u·lar·ized, sec·u·lar·iz·ing.

to make secular; separate from religious or spiritual connection or influences; make worldly or unspiritual; imbue with secularism.

to change (clergy) from regular to secular.

to transfer (property) from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use.

Words nearby secularize

secular, secular humanism, secular tertiaries, secularism, secularity, secularize, secund, secunderabad, secundigravida, secundine, secundines

Also especially British, sec·u·lar·ise.

Origin of secularize

First recorded in 1605–15; secular + -ize

OTHER WORDS FROM secularize

sec·u·lar·i·za·tion, nounsec·u·lar·iz·er, nouno·ver·sec·u·lar·i·za·tion, nouno·ver·sec·u·lar·ize, verb (used with object), o·ver·sec·u·lar·ized, o·ver·sec·u·lar·iz·ing.

un·sec·u·lar·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for secularized

The end of this would have been that the benefices of the church would have become hereditary, impaired, and secularized.
Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England|Edward L. Cutts
Many of the Ambrosian hymns and chants had become corrupted and secularized and therefore had lost their ecclesiastical dignity.
The Story of Our Hymns|Ernest Edwin Ryden
The district of Berchtesgaden was formerly an independent spiritual principality, founded in 1100 and secularized in 1803.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 6|Various
Maurice was a friend to learning, and devoted some of the secularized church property to the advancement of education.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 8|Various

Moreover, the bulk of Church property having been secularized, the Italian clergy receive a stipend from the state.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7|Various

British Dictionary definitions for secularized

secularize

secularise

/ (ˈsɛkjʊləˌraɪz) /

verb (tr)

to change from religious or sacred to secular functions, etc

to dispense from allegiance to a religious order

law to transfer (property) from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use

English legal history to transfer (an offender) from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to that of the civil courts for the imposition of a more severe punishment

Derived forms of secularize

secularization or secularisation, nounsecularizer or seculariser, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012