Primitive Baptist

American  

noun

1. (especially in the Southern U.S.) one belonging to a highly conservative, loosely organized Baptist group, characterized by extreme fundamentalism and by opposition to missionary work, Sunday Schools, and the use of musical instruments in church.

---

Etymology

Origin of Primitive Baptist

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

At West Harpeth Primitive Baptist Church, another church in Franklin, giving is down but only slightly.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 16, 2022

That home was part of 10 acres developed by George Evans, Willie Mason’s great uncle and a member of Zion Primitive Baptist Church.

From Washington Times • Feb. 20, 2021

The candidates shared the stage with the parents of both McGlockton and Martin at the St John Primitive Baptist Church.

From The Guardian • Aug. 8, 2018

“It was getting in the way of the words and the meaning. I wanted to take that song back even further than Dock took it. I wanted to give it the old Primitive Baptist treatment.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 23, 2016

In 1865 the Negro members of the white Primitive Baptist Churches of the South organized at Columbia, Tennessee, the Colored Primitive Baptists in America.

From The History of the Negro Church by Woodson, Carter Godwin