Synonyms of apostate

apostate 1 of 2

noun

ə-ˈpä-ˌstāt 

1

as in deserter

a person who abandons a cause or organization usually without right

an apostate from communism, he later became one of its harshest critics

Synonyms & Similar Words

• deserter
• traitor
• renegade
• rebel
• insurgent
• defector
• revolutionary
• recreant
• turncoat
• quisling
• betrayer
• traitress
• insurrectionist
• abandoner
• mutineer
• turnabout
• insurrectionary
• revolutionist
• leaver
• double-crosser
• discontent
• dropout
• defier
• recusant
• red
• revolter
• refusenik
• refuser
• malcontent
• come-outer
• revolutionizer

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• disciple
• follower
• adherent
• supporter
• partisan
• loyalist
• militant
• zealot
• fanatic

2

as in traitor

one who betrays a trust or an allegiance

became an apostate to liberalism after he had gotten wealthy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• traitor
• turncoat
• Judas
• betrayer
• quisling
• serpent
• double-dealer
• snake
• recreant
• backstabber
• renegade
• double-crosser
• collaborationist
• conspirator
• collaborator
• subverter
• deserter
• intriguer
• defector
• informant
• sellout
• accommodationist
• informer
• coconspirator
• plotter
• schemer
• subversive
• snitch
• tattler
• gossiper
• talker
• tattletale
• squealer
• blabbermouth
• stool pigeon
• gossipmonger
• rumormonger
• rat
• talebearer
• snitcher
• gossip
• telltale

apostate

2 of 2

adjective

as in renegade

Related Words

• renegade
• schismatic
• nontraditional
• sectarian
• heretical
• defecting
• separatist
• freethinking
• dissident
• dissenting
• iconoclastic
• heterodox
• out-there
• free-spirited
• nonconformist
• maverick
• dissentient
• unorthodox
• unconventional
• nonorthodox

Dissimilar Words

• orthodox
• conventional
• conformist
• conforming

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of apostate

Noun

To tell Republicans this is to be an apostate. — Erick Erickson, Oc Register, 17 Feb. 2026

Despite its public split from al-Qaeda, HTS retains a Salafi-jihadist ideology rooted in the same intellectual tradition tracing back to Ibn Taymiyya's medieval fatwas on apostates and minorities. — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026

The first such, that of John McCain, in September of 2018, felt like a meeting of the resistance, a clarion call to take up arms where the late senator, another Republican who turned apostate rather than submit to Trump, had left them on the field. — Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2025

As the developed north lectures this new generation of Latin American leaders to abide by neoliberal, democratic norms and isolating apostates, China and Russia are all too willing to provide an alternative. — Christopher Sabatini, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2022