Definition

1. Verb:
   • To formally abandon or renounce one's religious faith, political party, or other previously held beliefs or principles. It implies a deliberate and complete rejection of a former allegiance or doctrine.

Usage

• The verb "apostatize" is used to describe a significant, often public, act of defection or renunciation. It is typically followed by the preposition "from" to indicate what is being abandoned.
• It is a formal and somewhat literary term, most commonly used in religious, political, or ideological contexts.

Examples

• Verb:
  • The historian wrote about citizens who were pressured to apostatize from their faith during the persecution.
  • After years of loyalty, he shocked his colleagues by choosing to apostatize from the party's core ideology.

Advanced Usage

• "to apostatize from": This is the standard construction to specify the belief system or group being abandoned.
  • The convert was threatened with excommunication if he were to apostatize from the church.

Variants and Related Words

• Apostasy (n): The act or state of apostatizing; the formal renunciation of a belief.
  • His public declaration was seen as an act of apostasy.
• Apostate (n): A person who has apostatized.
  • The regime denounced the writer as an apostate.

Synonyms

• Defect: To desert a cause, party, or nation, especially in favor of an opposing one.
• Renounce: To formally declare one's abandonment of a claim, right, or belief.
• Forsake: To give up or leave entirely; often used for principles or beliefs.

Antonyms

• Adhere: To remain devoted to or in support of a belief or group.
• Convert: To change one's religious faith or other belief, typically a new one (whereas "apostatize" is a change one).

Verb

1. abandon one's beliefs or allegiances