How to Use apostasy in a Sentence

apostasy

noun
  • Only a heretic could so do, and they can be burned for apostasy.
    — Evan Waite, The New Yorker, 19 May 2020
  • In most of these, apostasy is the only way to get out of paying.
    — The Economist, 12 Sep. 2019
  • The pull between faith and apostasy has interlaced his movie roles.
    — Richard Brod, The New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2021
  • The cost for her political apostasy has become ever more clear in recent days.
    — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 5 May 2021
  • Those who showed apostasy rarely got another assignment.
    — Vince Passaro, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
  • Most will probably leave the Catholic Church and end up in situations of apostasy and schism.
    — Fr. Goran Jovicic, National Review, 13 June 2021
  • Even more striking, support for the death penalty for apostasy does not depend on one’s formal education.
    — Madiha Afzal, Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2018
  • At that point, his apostasy would become irretrievably public.
    — Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • For most true believers, though, the latter option—choosing apostasy, which is a kind of self-exile,—is not really an option at all.
    — Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2021
  • There's been numerous waves of apostasy breaking over environmentalism in the last decade or so.
    — Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 6 Apr. 2012
  • Its roots are in publicly paying penance for serious sins or crimes in the eyes of the church, like adultery or apostasy, which means renouncing the church and its beliefs.
    — Lianna Norman, Florida Times-Union, 16 Feb. 2026
  • In practice, though, Oman says, very few cases of apostasy over the years have included progressive dissent.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 June 2021
  • This Lent is magnifying his apostasy like never before.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
  • As our research shows, charges of apostasy are a powerful tool for delineating group membership and assigning rights.
    — Ian M. Hartshorn and Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Washington Post, 11 Apr. 2018
  • Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy, and as such, punishable by death.
    — Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes, 5 July 2021
  • By contrast, Fox’s opinion side, with the exception of occasional apostasy, largely earns high marks.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 24 Nov. 2020
  • After all, enormous numbers of people in the Muslim world believe in the death penalty for, among other things, blasphemy or apostasy.
    — David French, National Review, 21 Aug. 2017
  • To reverse engineer that, allowing the movement to shape the policy -- and choose the priorities -- is an apostasy.
    — Gregory Krieg, CNN, 14 Sep. 2017
  • For religious Jews, the establishment of a state prior to the arrival of the Messiah was an apostasy.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2024
  • And as with any religion, this opens up a host of dramatic situations — of apostasy and betrayal, doubt and disillusion.
    — Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Apostasy or no apostasy, Bret Stephens has made no progress today in convincing anyone otherwise.
    — Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 5 Oct. 2017
  • With the president viewed as illegitimate by so many progressive activists, even small compromises will be viewed as apostasy.
    — The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 23 Jan. 2017
  • In Franzen’s fiction, families are their own form of religion, with options for salvation and purification, and just as many for apostasy.
    — New York Times, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Dara Shikoh was accused of apostasy from Islam and tried under religious authority.
    — Tamanna Nangia, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Roosevelt never held Smith’s apostasy against him, and FDR’s wartime leadership reconciled the two men.
    — Edward Kosner, WSJ, 25 Sep. 2018
  • But one person’s prophecy is another person’s apostasy, and most of us don’t object to preachers airing political opinions per se, only those which conflict with our own.
    — Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2021
  • Such apostasy doesn't sit well with many greens, who largely retain an anti-nuclear and anti-GMO philosophy.
    — Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 3 Jan. 2013
  • But the former congressman’s unorthodox plan has drawn the ire of several party stalwarts who think McAdams’ apostasy is worthy of punishment.
    — Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 Apr. 2022
  • Indeed, for members from these districts, the best way to get into political trouble back home is to compromise with the other side, an apostasy that will produce a primary-election challenge.
    — Gerald F. Seib, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2021
  • Built largely around vignettes, Bilal’s stories depict characters who serve as sensitive guides to matters of apostasy, racial prejudice, and gender roles.
    — Condé Nast, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'apostasy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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