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Webster 1913 Edition

Proselyte

Pros′e-lyte

,
Noun.
[OE.
proselite
, OF.
proselite
, F.
proselytus
, Gr. [GREEK], adj., that has come, n., a new comer, especially, one who has come over from heathenism to the Jewish religion; [GREEK] toward, to + (prob.) the root of [GREEK] to come.]
A new convert especially a convert to some religion or religious sect, or to some particular opinion, system, or party; thus, a Gentile converted to Judaism, or a pagan converted to Christianity, is a proselyte.
Ye [Scribes and Pharisees] compass sea and land to make one
proselyte
.
Matt. xxiii. 15.
Fresh confidence the speculatist takes
From every harebrained
proselyte
he makes.
Cowper.
Syn. – See
Convert
.

Pros′e-lyte

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Proselyted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Proselyting
.]
To convert to some religion, opinion, or system; to bring over.
Dr. H. More.

Webster 1828 Edition

Proselyte

PROS'ELYTE

,
Noun.
[Gr. to come.] A new convert to some religion or religious sect, or to some particular opinion, system or party. Thus a Gentile converted to Judaism is a proselyte; a pagan converted to christianity is a proselyte; and we speak familiarly of proselytes to the theories of Brown, of Black, or of Lavoisier. The word primarily refers to converts to some religious creed.

PROS'ELYTE

,
Verb.
T.
To make a convert to some religion, or to some opinion or system.

Definition 2024

proselyte

proselyte

See also: prosélyte

English

Noun

proselyte ‎(plural proselytes)

  1. One who has recently converted to a religion or doctrine, especially a gentile converted to Judaism.
    • King James Bible, Matthew 23:15:
      Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of **** than yourselves.

Translations

Verb

proselyte ‎(third-person singular simple present proselytes, present participle proselyting, simple past and past participle proselyted)

  1. (transitive) To proselytize.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

prosēlyte

  1. vocative masculine singular of prosēlytus

Etymology

From Old French proselite, from Late Latin proselutus ‎(proselytus, “proselyte, alien resident”), from Ancient Greek προσήλυτος ‎(prosḗlutos, “newcomer, convert”) (from πρός ‎(prós, “to, towards”) and the stem -ηλυ- of ἐλήλυθα, perfect of ἔρχομαι ‎(érkhomai, “come”)), translation of Hebrew גר ‎(ger) in the Septuagint translation of the Torah (e.g., Exodus 12:49); also used in Matthew 23:15, Acts 2:10, Acts 6:5.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɒsɪlʌɪt/

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