Apostasy
noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The renunciation of a belief or set of beliefs. countable, uncountable
"The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse at the Hall occasioned much speculation in that portion of the world to which Waverley-Honour formed the centre: but the more judicious politicians of this microcosm augured yet worse consequences to Richard Waverley from a movement which shortly followed his apostasy."
- 2 the act of abandoning a party for cause wordnet
- 3 Specifically, the renunciation of one's religion or faith. countable, uncountable
- 4 the state of having rejected your religious beliefs for your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes) wordnet
Example
More examples"To the followers of the Daesh terrorist group, all Muslims are guilty of apostasy because they don't recognize the authority of their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi."
Etymology
From Latin apostasia, from Ancient Greek ἀποστασία (apostasía, “defection, revolt”), from ἀφίστημι (aphístēmi, “I withdraw, revolt”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “I stand”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.