Laicize

//ˈleɪ.ɪ.saɪz// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To convert from church-controlled to independent of the church; to secularize. transitive

    "They will laicise each of the schools in the district."

  2. 2
    reduce to lay status wordnet
  3. 3
    To reduce from clergy to layman. transitive

    "Due to his controversial views the Vatican decided to laicise the priest."

  4. 4
    To convert to lay status. intransitive

    "The soup kitchen laicised, it moved out of the church and registered as an independent non-profit."

Synonyms

All synonyms
laicise

Example

More examples

"They will laicise each of the schools in the district."

Etymology

From laic (“layperson”) + -ize (verbal suffix).

Related phrases

lay person

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