secularize

[ sek-yuh-luh-rahyz ]

/ ˈsɛk yə ləˌraɪz /

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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.

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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

[sek-yuh-luh-rahy-zey-shuhn] /ˌsɛk yə lə raɪˈzeɪ ʃən/ nounsec·u·lar·iz·er, 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. 2023

How to use secularize in a sentence

It did ... An increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.
After a Crushing Defeat, the Religious Right Still Won’t Get It Right|David Sessions|November 11, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The now secularized convent and its triple church have all the characteristics of a medival fortress when viewed from afar.
Italian Highways and Byways from a Motor Car|Francis Miltoun
Philosophy has not only deified the world and inspired it with a soul, but has also secularized God and the souls.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen
It was a melancholy work to have brought home a missionary, and secularized a parish priest!
Hopes and Fears|Charlotte M. Yonge

Most of the missions had been secularized, the Indians had become assimilated, and there was a considerable white population.
The Colonization of North America|Herbert Eugene Bolton
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 secularize

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