Rebaptise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To administer a baptism once more to an individual or group To provide a renewed religious identity or name through the act of baptism again To repeat the sacramental ceremony of baptism for those already baptized
2. To perform the baptismal ritual on someone who has already undergone the rite once
3. To apply the religious sacrament a second time to a person or group to reaffirm or change their spiritual affiliation

Etymology: "Rebaptise" is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning "again", attached to "baptise", a verb that came into English from Latin "baptizare" and Greek "baptizein", meaning "to immerse" or "to dip." In its original sense, then, the word describes dunking something under water a second time, and that physical act sits at the root of the religious meaning. The prefix does the work here. Because "baptise" already names a one-time sacrament that is traditionally not repeated, "rebaptise" becomes a word for a controversial act, one that churches have often treated as a serious matter when they disagreed over whether an earlier baptism counted at all. The verb therefore carries a built-in theological argument inside its two parts.

Synonyms: re-christen, rename