Backsliders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Persons who abandon or lapse from a previously held belief, habit, or allegiance especially in religious faith ; individuals who return to previous wrongdoing or disobedience after a period of compliance ; those who relinquish their commitments or moral principles and revert to earlier behaviors
2. People characterized by a regression in their dedication or conduct, often after making progress in virtue or faith ; individuals who relapse into former faults, sins, or errors following a phase of improvement ; those who forsake previously adopted standards or loyalty and go back to prior actions
3. Those who fail to maintain their moral or spiritual progress and turn back to former habits or beliefs ; individuals who revert to disfavored states or activities after a time of adherence ; persons who betray earlier allegiances or convictions by resuming past misconduct

Etymology: "Backsliders" is the plural of "backslider," a compound of "backslide" and the agent suffix "-er." The verb "backslide" is itself built from "back" and "slide," and its sense of sliding away from a commitment or faith comes from a figurative extension of physically slipping backward. The "-er" ending carries the Old English "-ere," which denoted a person performing an action, so a backslider is literally one who slides back. The suffix has a long ancestry. It descends from Latin "-arius," which passed into Old French as "-ier" and then entered Middle English as "-er." Along the way it also reached Germanic languages, where the same sound and function appear in Old English, so the English ending is both borrowed and inherited through different routes.

Synonyms: apostates, renegades, defectors, traitors, recidivists

Antonyms: converts, believers, faithful, devotees, followers