unchurch

American  

[uhn-church] / ʌnˈtʃɜrtʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to expel (a person) from a church; excommunicate.

2. to deprive of the character and rights of a church.

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unchurch British  

/ ʌnˈtʃɜːtʃ /

verb

1. to excommunicate

2. to remove church status from (a building)

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Etymology

Origin of unchurch

First recorded in 1610–20; un- ² + church

Example Sentences

Dean Inge has often remarked that Anglo-Catholics are "unchurched" by Roman Catholics*and attempt to unchurch everyone else.

From Time Magazine Archive

In a word, this isolation is doing as much as any one thing can do to unchurch us, and it and our awakened claims to be Catholic and Apostolic cannot long stand together.

From Prose Masterpieces from Modern Essayists by Froude, James Anthony

He does not unchurch or ostracise any other man. 

From Sir Thomas Browne and his 'Religio Medici' an Appreciation by Whyte, Alexander