variants
or less commonly baptise
baptized also baptised; baptizing also baptising
1
religion
: to administer baptism (see baptism sense 1) to
baptize a child in the Episcopal Church
was baptized a Catholic as an infant
2
a
: to purify or cleanse spiritually especially by a purging (see purge entry 1 sense 1) experience or ordeal
… baptized with pain and rapture, tears and fire …—
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier
b
: initiate
Both developments were baptized under last season's conditions of scanty snow …—New York Times
New York Times3
: to give a name to (as at baptism) : christen
They baptized their son "John" after the baby's grandfather.
: to administer baptism
baptizer
noun
Examples of baptize in a Sentence
The priest baptized the baby.
She was baptized at the age of 20.
Recent Examples on the Web
Two months later, at what was supposed to be the exclamation point to this 20-date tour in Washington, DC, they were baptized by rain.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 28 May 2026
Blossfeldt and Sander, along with Albert Renger-Patzsch, were the leading photographic representatives of the loose movement baptized, in 1925, as the New Objectivity.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 21 May 2026
The food is rustic and cosmopolitan at once — bright, monumental salads, whole carrots and leeks baptized by fire, skeins of pasta, and Parmigiano snowing down — but the secret is the seeming effortlessness.
—Ligaya Mishan, New York Times, 11 May 2026
His nanny was his fierce protector and insulated him from the depredations of Nazis and their enablers, baptizing him and teaching him to handily hurl anti-Jewish epithets to fit in.
—Ron Kampeas, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for baptize
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Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 28 May 2026
Blossfeldt and Sander, along with Albert Renger-Patzsch, were the leading photographic representatives of the loose movement baptized, in 1925, as the New Objectivity.
—Max Norman, New Yorker, 21 May 2026
The food is rustic and cosmopolitan at once — bright, monumental salads, whole carrots and leeks baptized by fire, skeins of pasta, and Parmigiano snowing down — but the secret is the seeming effortlessness.
—Ligaya Mishan, New York Times, 11 May 2026
His nanny was his fierce protector and insulated him from the depredations of Nazis and their enablers, baptizing him and teaching him to handily hurl anti-Jewish epithets to fit in.
—Ron Kampeas, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for baptize
Cite this Entry
“Baptize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baptize. Accessed 29 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
baptize
verb
bap·tize
bap-ˈtīz 
ˈbap-ˌtīz
baptized; baptizing
1
: to dip in water or sprinkle water on as a part of the ceremony of receiving into the Christian church
2
a
: to make pure in spirit (as by a painful experience)
3
: to give a name to (as in the ceremony of baptism) : christen
baptizer
noun
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