| Library / English Dictionary |
BAPTISM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A Christian sacrament signifying spiritual cleansing and rebirth
Example:
most churches baptize infants but some insist on adult baptism
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("baptism" is a kind of...):
sacrament (a formal religious ceremony conferring a specific grace on those who receive it; the two Protestant ceremonies are baptism and the Lord's Supper; in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church there are seven traditional rites accepted as instituted by Jesus: baptism and confirmation and Holy Eucharist and penance and holy orders and matrimony and extreme unction)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "baptism"):
affusion (the act of baptizing someone by pouring water on their head)
aspersion; sprinkling (the act of sprinkling water in baptism (rare))
christening (giving a Christian name at baptism)
immersion (a form of baptism in which part or all of a person's body is submerged)
Derivation:
baptise (administer baptism to)
baptismal (of or relating to baptism)
Baptist (follower of Baptistic doctrines)
baptize (administer baptism to)
