Apostolised

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have been converted to the faith or teachings of a religious apostle
2. to have undergone a transformation into a fervent adherent of a specific belief or doctrine
3. to be in the process of promoting or spreading a particular ideology or viewpoint through zealous advocacy

Etymology: "Apostolised" is the past tense and past participle of "apostolise", so its story is really the story of the verb it comes from. That verb is built on "apostle", which goes back through Latin "apostolus" to Greek "apostolos", meaning a messenger or someone sent out, from the verb "apostellein", to send away. In early Christian usage the word was reserved for the twelve disciples whom Jesus sent to preach, and it was from that sense of commissioned missionary that "apostolise" grew. The verb's sense moved from the literal to the figurative. To apostolise originally meant to act as an apostle, to go out and spread a message, and over time it came to describe the zeal of a convert who has taken up a belief with missionary fervour. The word carries the shape of the older missionary idea even when the belief in question is political, artistic or personal rather than religious.

Synonyms: converted, evangelized, preached, missionized, proselytized

Antonyms: ignored, neglected, rejected, abandoned, forsaken