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I'm looking for a single adjective to describe a religious leader, e.g. a priest or the Lord, who has been forsaken by their followers. Not necessarily betrayed, but had the followers' faith lost.

The word would be used as a name of a "unit type" in a game: "____ Imam", "_____ kohen". I'd prefer the word to be an adjective bringing connotations of having fallen from grace, and for a word that most would understand.

I've tried looking for antonyms of "forsaken", "betrayed", "praised", "sacred" and similar. The closest word I've found would be "fallen kohen", which doesn't fit as it seems to put the kohen at fault.

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  • Please let me know if I missed anything from the "single word requests" requirements and I'll make sure to add it.
    – Anna
    Jan 22, 2020 at 3:31
  • This wouldn't work unless you were writing it from the perspective of those who had abandoned the religious leader, but "apostate" means "one who has abandoned a religious loyalty." If the people who lost faith in him viewed him as not being the savior they thought he was, "apostate" could work.
    – Nicole
    Jan 22, 2020 at 4:26
  • My connotations to "apostate" require something to change in the religious leader, not just in how their followers view them. Do you think that's mistaken and apostate could work?
    – Anna
    Jan 22, 2020 at 4:28
  • I think it's a manner of perspective. The person being viewed as an apostate would not consider themselves the be one, but if their religious beliefs were no longer what the majority believed in, then the majority might consider them an apostate. Like I said, I think it's close to but not exactly what you're looking for, which is why I put it as a comment. I think "disgraced" suggested in jimm's answer works much better.
    – Nicole
    Jan 22, 2020 at 4:39

1 Answer 1

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A thesaurus look up would suggest words like deserted, jilted, or disowned, but I suspect disgraced may fit your use case.

having fallen from favor or a position of power or honor; discredited.

Google

the loss of respect, honor, or esteem; ignominy; shame:

Dictionary.com

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    Disgraced fits very well, thank you jimm!
    – Anna
    Jan 22, 2020 at 4:25

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