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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

laicize.

To convert from church-controlled to independent of the church; to secularize.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈleɪ.ɪ.saɪz//ˈleɪsʌɪz/
  1. To convert from church-controlled to independent of the church; to secularize.

    transitive
    They will laicise each of the schools in the district.
  2. To reduce from clergy to layman.

    transitive
    Due to his controversial views the Vatican decided to laicise the priest.
  3. To convert to lay status.

    intransitive
    The soup kitchen laicised, it moved out of the church and registered as an independent non-profit.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English laic Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English laicize From laic (“layperson”) + -ize (verbal suffix).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.