Defrock

//diːˈfɹɒk// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To divest of a frock. literally
  2. 2
    divest of the frock; of church officials wordnet
  3. 3
    To formally remove the rights and authority of a member of the clergy. figuratively

    "The defrocked priest may no longer perform rites."

  4. 4
    To formally remove the rights and authority of someone, e.g. a government official or a medical practitioner. broadly

    "There are refugees and black marketers, defrocked bankers and resistance fighters, gamblers, floozies, French colonial policemen, American and Spanish entertainers, and, eventually, Nazi officers (who in reality never set foot in Casablanca)."

Synonyms

All synonyms
unfrockunfrockbootbouncebreakbring into discredit

Example

More examples

"The defrocked priest may no longer perform rites."

Etymology

From French défroquer, from dé- + froc. By surface analysis, de- + frock.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.