Methodist

American  

[meth-uh-dist] / ˈmɛθ ə dɪst /

noun

• Methodists
  plural

1. a member of the largest Christian denomination that grew out of the revival of religion led by John Wesley: stresses both personal and social morality and has an Arminian doctrine and, in the U.S., a modified episcopal polity.

2. (lowercase) a person who relies greatly or excessively on methods or a particular method.

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adjective

1. Also Methodistic, Methodistical. of or relating to the Methodists or Methodism.

Methodist British  

/ ˈmɛθədɪst /

noun

1. a member of any of the Nonconformist denominations that derive from the system of faith and practice initiated by John Wesley and his followers

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adjective

1. of or relating to Methodism or the Church embodying it (the Methodist Church )

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• non-Methodist
  noun
• anti-Methodist
  adjective
• non-Methodistic
  adjective
• pre-Methodist
  adjective
• pro-Methodist
  adjective
• pseudo-Methodist
  adjective
• Methodistically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Methodists
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Methodist

First recorded in 1585–95; method + -ist

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Methodist Methodists

As the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Hamilton told voters his faith is what inspires his belief that the government should help care for the poor and vulnerable.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

“I’m not the hawk, watching everyone’s conversations, but it’s just kind of a role of: ‘Be more aware of your surroundings,’” said Charlotte Smith, an Alpha Chi Omega member at Southern Methodist University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

The sprawling New York City duplex is located in the Novare building—formerly the Washington Square Methodist Church built in 1860, which was converted into an eight-unit condominium building in 2006.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is a former lay preacher in the Methodist church, while Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is the devout son of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

In his parents’ parlor to an audience of distinguished Bostonians, then in the homes of those distinguished Bostonians, in colored meeting houses and Methodist churches and lecture halls throughout New England.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

The mainline is a collection of long-established Protestant denominations: the Episcopalians, United Methodists, Presbyterians and so on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Francis worked with Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists and persuaded the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to join him to pray for peace.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025

Pacific Palisades, founded by Methodists, was a “Christian community” with modern amenities “where the mountains met the coast.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2025

Nora Mathison: Syracuse University had been founded just three years earlier, in 1870, by forward thinking Methodists.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 28, 2023

Reverend Lanier, however, lost his job when the Methodists took up the mortgage on his church.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

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