apostasy

noun apos·ta·sy \ ə-ˈpäs-tə-sē \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of apostasy

plural apostasies

1 : an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith

2 : abandonment of a previous loyalty : defection

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Recent Examples of apostasy from the Web

Come Sunday is not a biographical film about apostasy.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Come Sunday Is an Uneven Biopic of Faith and Dissent," 12 Apr. 2018
Cohen certainly offers a challenge to the conventional wisdom that HOPE was Miller’s great progressive accomplishment, to be balanced against his later political apostasies.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "No, the HOPE Scholarship Didn’t Kill Great Society Liberalism," 31 Mar. 2018
One, Ashraf Fayadh, a Palestinian poet, curator and artist, was convicted on apostasy charges in 2015 and sentenced by a Saudi court to death by beheading.

— kareem fahim, Washington Post, "As Saudi Arabia relaxes its controls on culture and entertainment, artists dream — and worry," 10 Jan. 2018
Even though Flake no longer has to worry about appeasing hard-right Arizonans in future primaries, his voting record in no way reflects his Trump apostasy.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "Jeff Flake to Deliver Another Fiery Anti-Trump Speech From Senate Floor," 15 Jan. 2018
While this suggestion will be seen as apostasy by those of us at the defense bar, particularly given the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, why shouldn’t the system require the defendant to testify?

— richard a. posner, Slate Magazine, "A dialogue on how the law will handle a world of alternative facts.," 25 May 2017
There is no evangelical magisterium, dictating the terms of excommunication and apostasy.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Nashville Statement Signatories Want to Excommunicate Other Christians for the Sin of Accepting LGBTQ Folk," 13 Sep. 2017
There is no evangelical magisterium, dictating the terms of excommunication and apostasy.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Nashville Statement Signatories Want to Excommunicate Other Christians for the Sin of Accepting LGBTQ Folk," 13 Sep. 2017
All Democratic tactics over the next four years should be about creating political space for the likes of Murkowski, Collins, and other swayables to commit the occasional partisan apostasy.

— jim newell, Slate Magazine, "Democrats Have No Play on Neil Gorsuch," 2 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'apostasy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of apostasy

Middle English apostasie, from Late Latin apostasia, from Greek, literally, revolt, from aphistasthai to revolt, from apo- + histasthai to stand — more at stand

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First Known Use: 14th century

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