apostasy, n. 1. (all used in reference to allegiance or principles) desertion, abandonment, forsaking, forswearing, relinquishment; rejection, rejecting, renunciation, renouncement, abjuration, repudiation.
2. withdrawal, secession; falling away, dropping out, SI. copping out, turning one's back on; backsliding, recidivism, dereliction.
3. defection, treason, perfidy, betrayal; unfaithfulness, faithlessness, disloyalty, recreancy, recreance.
4. changeover, switchover, conversion; reversal, aboutface, turnabout, SI. switcheroo, SI. a 180°, Inf. flip-flop.
apostate, n. 1. (all used in reference to faith or principles) deserter, renegade, recreant, defector, traitor; bolter, turncoat, retractor, recanter; tergiver-sator, straddler; renouncer, abjurer, repudiator, rejecter; dissenter, seceder; backslider, recidivist.
-adj. 2. traitorous, treacherous, perfidious, recreant, renegade; disloyal, unfaithful, faithless, untrue, false.
3. heretical, schismatic, unorthodox, dissident, divergent; heathen, infidel, infidelic.
4. backsliding, recidivist, recidivous.
apostatize, v. 1. (all used in reference to faith or principles) desert, abandon, forsake, forswear, reject, discard, relinquish; renounce, abjure, repudiate, disown; depart from, withdraw from, secede.
2. defect, change sides, go over, bolt, shift ground, change loyalties, turn traitor; tergiversate, veer round, do an aboutface, reverse oneself; recant, retract, disavow, disclaim; backslide, fall away, recidivate, lapse, relapse.
apostle, n. 1. missionary, evangelist, proselytizer, propagandist, spreader of the faith, minister of the Gospel, missioner; revivalist, reformer, faith healer; witness, disciple; priest, minister, parson, divine.
2. pioneer, groundbreaker, originator, initiator; avant-gardist, experimenter; crusader, campaigner, promoter, Inf. pusher; advocate, supporter, champion, defender, apologist.
3. messenger, emissary, envoy; agent, representative, spokesman, deputy.
apostolic, adj. 1. evangelical, evangelic, scriptural, biblical, patristic, apostolical.
2. canonical, orthodox, authorized, accepted;
historical, traditional, doctrinal, dogmatic.
3. ecclesiastical, ecclesial, churchly, hierarchical; sacerdotal, hieratic, priestly; prelatic, episcopal; papal, pontifical, pontific, All Disparaging, papistical, papistic, popish.
4. founded by the Apostles; Christian,
apostrophe, n. Rhetoric, address, salutation, speech, oration, soliloquy; entreaty, appeal, supplication, invocation, solicitation, obtestation, imploration.
apothecary, n. 1. druggist, pharmacist, pharma
ceutist, pharmacologist, pharmaceutical chemist.
2. pharmacy, US. drugstore,
apotheosis, n. 1. deification, godding, canoniza tion; dignifying, ennoblement, enthronement, en-thronization, enshrinement, elevation; exaltation, glorification, celebration; idealization, setting or putting on a pedestal, idolatry, worshipping, adoration, adulation, veneration, reverence.
2. deity, god, dignity, highness, loftiness, crown; idol, hero, venerable; ideal, exemplar, perfection, sublimity.
apotheosize, v. 1. deify, god, canonize; dignify, ennoble, enthrone, enshrine, crown.