From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Apostate \A*pos"tate\, noun [L. apostata, Gr. ?, fr. ?. See {Apostasy}.]
1. One who has forsaken the faith, principles, or party, to which he before adhered; esp., one who has forsaken his religion for another; a pervert; a renegade.
2. (R. C. Ch.) One who, after having received sacred orders, renounces his clerical profession.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Apostate \A*pos"tate\, adjective Pertaining to, or characterized by, apostasy; faithless to moral allegiance; renegade.
So spake the apostate angel. --Milton.
A wretched and apostate state. --Steele.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Apostate \A*pos"tate\, verb (used without an object) [L. apostatare.] To apostatize. [Obs.]
We are not of them which apostate from Christ. --Bp. Hall.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: not faithful to religion or party or cause
noun
1: a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. [syn: {deserter}, {renegade}, {turncoat}, {recreant}, {ratter}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
70 Moby Thesaurus words for "apostate": Sabbath-breaker, atheist, atheistic, backslider, backsliding, blasphemer, blasphemous, bolter, collaborationist, collaborative, collaborator, convert, defector, degenerate, demurrer, deserter, disloyal, dissenter, dissentient, dissident, faithless, fallen, fallen from grace, fifth columnist, impious, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, mugwump, nonconformist, objector, opinionist, opposition voice, profanatory, profane, proselyte, protestant, protester, quisling, rat, recidivist, recidivistic, recreant, recusant, renegade, renegado, renegate, reversionist, runagate, sacrilegious, sacrilegist, schismatic, seceder, secessionist, sectarian, sectary, separatist, strikebreaker, tergiversant, tergiversating, tergiversator, traitor, traitorous, treasonable, treasonous, turnabout, turncoat, turntail, unbeliever, undutiful
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
APOSTATE, noun A leech who, having penetrated the shell of a turtle only to find that the creature has long been dead, deems it expedient to form a new attachment to a fresh turtle.
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0