Church of England

American  

noun

1. the established church in England, Catholic in faith and order, but incorporating many principles of the Protestant Reformation and independent of the papacy.

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Church of England British  

noun

1. the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head

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Church of England Cultural  

1. The established church (see also established church) in England. The Church of England is Protestant and is governed by bishops, with the king or queen as its official head. One of the primary results of the Reformation, it was founded in the early sixteenth century when King Henry VIII declared that he, not the pope, was the head of the Christian Church in England. The Church of England is the original church of the Anglican Communion.

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Example Sentences

The Bishop of Southampton, Rhiannon King, visited the Sikh community on Wednesday alongside colleagues from the Church of England and the Southampton Council of Faiths to show solidarity.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026

The move to permanently incorporate a blessing for same-sex marriages underlines a divergence between the Church in Wales and the Church of England, which does not have an equivalent blessing.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

The Church of England became the country's state establishment church following King Henry VIII's split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.

From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026

Women were only allowed to become priests in the Church of England from 1994.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Religious zealots and religious dissenters were making noise while members of the Church of England and Unitarians like the Darwins also quietly questioned their faith.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman