Meaning & use
unbaptized
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparablereligion
Not having gone through the Christian ceremony of baptism.
Grammar: Usually describes a person: an unbaptized child, or the child remained unbaptized.
Patterns
- remain unbaptized
Their unbaptized son was welcomed at the church anyway.
She was raised unbaptized and chose the ceremony as an adult.
Old parish records sometimes list infants who died unbaptized.
Common combinations
- unbaptized child
- The priest spoke kindly to the parents of an unbaptized child.
- remain unbaptized
- He chose to remain unbaptized until adulthood.
- die unbaptized
- Medieval writers worried about babies who died unbaptized.
- unbaptized adult
- An unbaptized adult may join a preparation class first.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unchristened
- Unchristened is the more informal and traditional word, especially for babies who have not been named in church.
- unconverted
- Unconverted refers to not having adopted a faith, whereas unbaptized is only about the missing ritual.
- unwashed
- Unwashed may allude to baptism but usually means not cleaned, so it is rarely a true synonym.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unbaptized or unbeliever?
unbaptized vs unbeliever
An unbeliever lacks religious belief, while an unbaptized person may still believe but has not undergone the ritual.
Practice
A man who believes in Christianity but has never received the ceremony is best called what?
Choose one answer.
Unbaptized specifically means not having been baptized. Unholy describes impiety and does not refer to a ceremony.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unbaptized”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.