Word of the Day Archive
Thursday July 18, 2002
apostasy \uh-POS-tuh-see\ , noun:
Total desertion or departure from one's faith, principles, or party.
Party loyalty was fierce, political apostasy despised, and breakaway movements and third parties rarely exercised more than temporary influence.
-- Edward Ranson, "Electing a president 1896", History Today, October 1, 1996
The French were advancing the holy cause of liberty; any American who criticized them was guilty of "apostasy" and "heresies."
-- Richard Brookhiser, "In Love With Revolution", New York Times, November 17, 1996
No sooner did it become clear that this was how I really felt, and that I fully intended to carry on with the war I had started against those ideas, than the exculpatory explanation for my apostasy was dropped, and in its place came shock and a deep sense of betrayal.
-- Norman Podhoretz, Ex-Friends
Apostasy is derived from Greek apostasis, "a standing away from, a defection, a revolt," from aphistanai, "to stand off or away from, to revolt," from apo-, "from, away from" + histanai, "to stand."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for apostasy
