💬 An insult 💧 Water sprinkling

aspersion

9.9

A sprinkling of water used in a baptism ceremony

noun
/əˈspɜrʒən/

Archaic

: aspersión

The ceremony included an aspersion to signify the start of the child's spiritual journey.

Examples

But if thou dost break her virgin-knot before... ...all sanctimonious ceremonies may with full and holy rite be minist'red, no sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall to make this contract grow;

Prospero's Books (1991)
During the baptism, the priest sprinkled water as an aspersion to bless the child.
But if thou dost break her virgin-knot before all sanctimonious ceremonies, no sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall to make this contract grow.

The Tempest (2010)
I mean no aspersion: the lines have their perfect beauty in other registers, and Whitman is, of course, no rebarbative writer, as Thoreau, at times, can be.

Blog text (6)
Unlike the other examples in which black men asserted their manhood by protesting against the president as students or by advocating for increased control in the newspapers and pulpits, the men at Leland could not claim any aspersion on black manhood.

Academic text (2008)
In some Christian traditions, the aspersion of water symbolizes purification and new beginnings.

Synonyms

sprinkling

vsaspersion

1 2.5

A light fall of small drops like rain or water

refers specifically to a ceremonial act of applying water during baptism

How Submerged

immersion

2 6.1

affusion

Specialized

9.9

aspersion

Archaic

9.9

Surface Forms

aspersion singular

aspersions plural

Morphology

aspersion = asperse (opaque) = asperse + ion

Although historically the noun denotes the act of sprinkling (directly from 'asperse'), the verbal base and the formation are archaic/rare, so the relation is not helpful for most learners.

Etymology

Aspersion comes from the Latin aspergere, meaning 'to sprinkle', and originally meant a 'sprinkling'. So in some churches an aspersion is the act of sprinkling water, for example during a baptism.