Secularize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To take away religious influence or aspects from an institution, practice, or place
2. To separate something from religious control or significance, making it non-religious
3. To convert something so that it no longer has a religious meaning or purpose

Etymology: "Secularize" is built in English from "secular" plus the suffix "-ize," and the suffix carries a long chain of borrowing behind it. It traces back through Ancient Greek "-izein," which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of," and passed into Late Latin as "-izare." French then adopted it as "-iser," and Middle English took it in as "-isen," which later became the modern "-ize." The base word, "secular," comes from Latin "saecularis," meaning "of an age" or "of a generation," from "saeculum," a lifetime or age of the world. Its sense of worldly as opposed to religious developed later, because the Church distinguished clergy and laity from those who lived outside monastic or religious life. To secularize something is therefore to move it from that religious domain back into ordinary worldly use, such as turning church property or a school run by a religious order into a public institution.

Synonyms: dechristianize, disencumber

Antonyms: sacralize, sanctify