Definition of: baptism

(bap′tiz·əm) noun
1. The act of baptizing or of being baptized; specifically, a sacrament in which water is used to initiate the recipient into a Christian church, to symbolize purification, to acknowledge consecration to Christ, etc.
2. Any initiatory or purifying experience.
3. A religious ablution signifying a purification or consecration, as that by which proselytes were Judaized.
4. In Christian Science, purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit. [<OF baptesme <LL baptismus <Gk. baptismos immersion]
—bap·tis·mal (bap·tiz′məl) adjective
—bap·tis′mal·ly adverb