secularize

Definition of secularizenext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of secularize The pre-revolutionary Sisters of Mercy were strongly associated with religious virtue but became increasingly secularized and professionalized during World War I. After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, these nurses were reinvented as Soviet medical workers. Susan Grant, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2022 Early campaigns for financial reorganization gave way to ambitious attempts to secularize the inhabitants of monastic houses on a scale unseen in any other national church—with dramatic social as well as economic consequences. Crawford Gribben, WSJ, 29 Apr. 2022 Benedictines sympathize with the first two groups but tend to be more pessimistic about the prospects for national political or top-down solutions while the culture continues to secularize. Damon Linker, The Week, 13 July 2021 In the 1920s, the Mexican government’s attempt to secularize the country sparks a rebellion known as the Cristero War. Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2021 See All Example Sentences for secularize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for secularize
dissuade
Verb
  • If some companies, like BP and Total acquiesced, others like Exxon and Conoco packed up and left, writing off $billions and filing international arbitration claims that dissuaded many firms from seeking to establish operations in the country.
    Scott Montgomery, Forbes.com, 25 Jan. 2026
  • There’s nothing like the threats of Sasquatch coming into the theater, stuffing you in a sleeping bag and beating you against a tree in one of their Don’t Talk PSAs to dissuade you from using your phone.
    Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Secularize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/secularize. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.

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