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Glite Dictionary
to laicize

to laicize

1 9.9
To make a person or institution non-religious by removing their church role
  • verb
  • /ˈleɪɪˌsaɪz/
  • Formal
translation icon : laicizar
  • Priests can also be laicized with relative ease, and any priest can resign his office without consequence.

Examples

  • The story essentially accused Pope Benedict XVI, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, of somehow refusing to promptly laicize an abusive Milwaukee priest who had already been removed from ministry.

    Blog text (30)

  • Medicine countered with Bourneville's campaign to laicize the public hospitals, which succeeded in 1883 (Goldstein 231).

    Academic text (2003)

  • You'll be laicized.

    From Life (2018)

  • At the end of May 1998, the Vatican was aware that Fr. Murphy was in frail health and that he would not live long enough for a lengthy and complicated canonical trial to laicize him.

    Blog text (30)

  • Just say that Father Gordon is "laicized" because of the false evidence proffered by the Diocese of Manchester, as indicated by Ryan MacDonald here.

    Blog text (20)

  • After years of service, the priest was laicized and returned to lay life.

  • The bishop announced that several clergy members would be laicized due to misconduct.

  • To become laicized means that a priest no longer holds his clerical status.

Synonyms

to secularize
vsto laicize
4 7.6

To remove religious control from places like schools or hospitals

focuses on changing people or institutions into lay status by removing clerical roles
to desacralize
vsto laicize
  • Formal
1 9.9

Remove religious use from a place or object so people can use it for ordinary things

focuses on removing sacred status rather than changing clerical position

Antonyms

to ordain
  • Formal
38 7.3

To make someone a priest or minister in a special religious ceremony

to sanctify
24 7.4

To make a person or place holy with a religious ceremony

How Secular

to deconsecrate
  • Formal
1 9.9
to laicize
  • Formal
1 9.9
to disestablish
  • Formal
1 8.6

Surface Forms

laicize infinitive
laicized past
laicized past participle
laicizing present participle
laicizes third person singular

Morphology

laicize = laic (transparent) = laic + ize

The verb is a regular verb-formation from 'laic' + the productive suffix '-ize', meaning 'to make or render laic/secular'.

Etymology

Laicize comes from laic, which means 'lay' or 'of the people', and the ending -ize, which means 'to make'. So to laicize someone or something is to 'make' it lay or non-religious, for example by removing a priest's religious status.