unfrock

American

[uhn-frok] / ʌnˈfrɒk /

verb (used with object)

defrock.

unfrock British

/ ʌnˈfrɒk /

verb

(tr) to deprive (a person in holy orders) of ecclesiastical status

"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

Etymology

Origin of unfrock

First recorded in 1635–45; un- ² + frock

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.

The Vatican has sent him for treatment but has yet to unfrock him, even after he seemed to trivialise his actions in a television interview.

From Economist • Apr. 28, 2011

Last week, in a committee debate on Parliament's new Criminal Justice bill, Laborite Emrys Hughes launched a movement to unwig and unfrock Britain's men of law.

From Time Magazine Archive

They block his plan for a Church dance, they prevent his sheltering a pursued harlot, just as he has concluded that the Church is not all that it should be, his disapproving seniors unfrock him.

From Time Magazine Archive

Disfrock, dis-frok′, v.t. to unfrock, deprive of clerical garb.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Is it to be expected that they will unfrock themselves?

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Miscellany by Ingersoll, Robert Green

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023