secularize

American  

[sek-yuh-luh-rahyz] / ˈsɛk yə ləˌraɪz /

especially British, secularise

verb (used with object)

secularized, secularizing

1. to make secular; separate from religious or spiritual connection or influences; make worldly or unspiritual; imbue with secularism.

2. to change (clergy) from regular to secular.

3. to transfer (property) from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use.

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secularize British  

/ ˈsɛkjʊləˌraɪz /

verb

1. to change from religious or sacred to secular functions, etc

2. to dispense from allegiance to a religious order

3. law to transfer (property) from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use

4. English legal history to transfer (an offender) from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to that of the civil courts for the imposition of a more severe punishment

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Other Word Forms

• oversecularize verb (used with object)
• secularization noun
• secularizer noun
• unsecularized adjective

Etymology

Origin of secularize

First recorded in 1605–15; secular + -ize

Example Sentences

In 2019, he was elected to Israel’s governing body, the Knesset, as a member of the Balad party, an Arab party that strives to secularize Israel.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2023

He contends that it will help secularize a province in which the Catholic Church long exerted outsize sway.

From Washington Post • Dec. 19, 2021

In what direction have they taken their cultural quest to secularize the world?

From Salon • Jun. 5, 2021

In the 1920s, the Mexican government’s attempt to secularize the country sparks a rebellion known as the Cristero War.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 4, 2020

He confided to Rabelais the government of his household, and persuaded the pope to secularize the abbey of St. Maurdes-Fosses, and conferred it upon the wit.

From Paris: With Pen and Pencil Its People and Literature, Its Life and Business by Bartlett, David W.