apostate

English

Etymology

From Late Latin apostata, from Ancient Greek ἀποστάτης (apostátēs, “rebel”), from ἀφίστημι (aphístēmi, “to withdraw, revolt”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒs.teɪt/, /əˈpɒs.tət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɔs.teɪt/, /əˈpɔs.tət/, /əˈpɔs.tɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

apostate (not comparable)

1. Guilty of apostasy.

   We must punish this apostate priest.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 608–613:

     VVho can impair thee, mighty King, or bound / Thy Empire? eaſily the proud attempt / Of Spirits apoſtat and thir Counſels vaine / Thou haſt repeld, vvhile impiouſly they thought / Thee to diminiſh, and from thee vvithdravv / The number of thy vvorſhippers.

   • 1711 April 2 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “THURSDAY, March 22, 1710–1711”, in The Spectator, number 19; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     a wretched and apostate state

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 101:

     An enormous number of monks and priests gave themselves up to sorcery, and there was no lack of apostate priests to perform the ceremonies of the Black Mass.

Translations

guilty of apostasy

• Arabic: مُرْتَدّ (murtadd)
• German: abtrünnig (de), (uncommon) apostatisch
• Hungarian: hitehagyott (hu)
• Polish: apostatyczny (pl)
• Russian: отсту́пнический (ru) (otstúpničeskij)

Noun

apostate (plural apostates)

1. A person who has renounced a religion or faith.
2. (Roman Catholicism) One who, after having received sacred orders, renounces his clerical profession.
3. (by extension) One who has renounced a political party, a cause, etc.
   • 2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But the most politically damaging blow came from a late-breaking apostate: Mr. Clooney, who just weeks earlier had spent time with Mr. Biden and helped deliver $28 million to his campaign at a Los Angeles fund-raiser.

Synonyms

• deconvert
• murtad
• recreant
• withersake

 

Related terms

• apostasy
• apostatic
• apostatical
• apostatically
• apostatise
• apostatize

 

Translations

person who renounces a religion or faith

• Arabic: مُرْتَدّ m (murtadd)
• Armenian: հավատուրաց (hy) (havaturacʻ)
• Azerbaijani: mürtəd
• Bashkir: мөртәт (mörtət)
• Belarusian: адсту́пнік m (adstúpnik), адсту́пніца f (adstúpnica), вераадсту́пнік m (vjeraadstúpnik), вераадсту́пніца f (vjeraadstúpnica)
• Bengali: মুরতাদ (bn) (murtad)
• Bulgarian: вероотстъ́пник m (verootstǎ́pnik), вероотстъ́пница f (verootstǎ́pnica)
• Catalan: apòstata m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變節者／变节者 (zh) (biànjiézhě)

• Czech: odpadlík (cs) m, odpadlice f
• Danish: apostat c
• Dutch: afvallige (nl) m or f
• Estonian: usutaganeja
• Finnish: luopio (fi), uskonluopio
• French: apostat (fr) m, apostate (fr) f
• Galician: apóstata (gl) m or f
• German: Abtrünniger (de) m, Abtrünnige (de) f, Glaubensabtrünniger m, Glaubensabtrünnige f, Apostat (de) m, Apostatin (de) f, Abgefallener m, Abgefallene f, Glaubensabgefallener m, Glaubensabgefallene f, Renegat (de) m, Renegatin (de) f
• Greek: αποστάτης (el) m (apostátis), αποστάτισσα (el) f (apostátissa), αποστάτρια (el) f (apostátria)
• Hebrew: מְשֻׁמָּד (he) m (meshumád)
• Hindi: पक्षहर (hi) m (pakṣahar), अन्यशाखक (hi) m (anyaśākhak)
• Hungarian: hitehagyott (hu)
• Icelandic: trúníðingur m
• Italian: apostata (it) m or f
• Japanese: 背教者 (はいきょうしゃ, haikyōsha)
• Korean: 배교자(背敎者) (baegyoja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: murted (ku)

• Latin: apostata m, apostatrīx f
• Macedonian: отпадник m (otpadnik), отпадничка f (otpadnička), отстапник m (otstapnik), отстапничка f or f pl (otstapnička)
• Malay: murtad
• Maori: apotata
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: apostat m

  Nynorsk: apostat m

• Old English: apostata m
• Pashto: مرتد m (mortad)
• Persian: مرتد (fa) (mortadd)
• Polish: apostata (pl) m, apostatka (pl) f, odstępca (pl) m, odstępczyni f
• Portuguese: apóstata m or f
• Romanian: apostat (ro) m, apostată (ro) f
• Russian: отсту́пник (ru) m (otstúpnik), отсту́пница (ru) f (otstúpnica), вероотсту́пник (ru) m (verootstúpnik), вероотсту́пница (ru) f (verootstúpnica), апоста́т (ru) m (apostát), апоста́тка f (apostátka), богоотсту́пник (ru) m (bogootstúpnik), богоотсту́пница (ru) f (bogootstúpnica)
• Sanskrit: पक्षहर (sa) m (pakṣahara), अन्यशाखक (sa) m (anyaśākhaka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀тпаднӣк m, о̀тпадница f

  Roman: òtpadnīk (sh) m, òtpadnica (sh) f

• Slovak: odpadlík m, odpadlíčka f
• Slovene: odpadnik (sl) m, odpadnica f
• Spanish: apóstata (es) m or f
• Swedish: apostat (sv) c, avfälling (sv) c
• Tajik: муртадд (murtadd), муртад (murtad)
• Tatar: мөртәт (tt) (mörtät)
• Turkish: mürtet (tr)
• Ukrainian: відсту́пник m (vidstúpnyk), відсту́пниця f (vidstúpnycja), віровідсту́пник m (virovidstúpnyk), віровідсту́пниця f (virovidstúpnycja), боговідсту́пник (uk) m (bohovidstúpnyk), боговідсту́пниця (uk) f (bohovidstúpnycja)
• Urdu: مُرْتَد m (murtad)
• Uyghur: مۇرتەت (murtet)
• Uzbek: murtad (uz)

See also

• heresy
• heretic
• heretical

Further reading

• Apostasy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Noun

apostate f

1. plural of apostata

Portuguese

Verb

apostate

1. inflection of apostatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

apostate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of apostar combined with te
2. inflection of apostatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative