Protestant

American  

[prot-uh-stuhnt, pruh-tes-tuhnt] / ˈprɒt ə stənt, prəˈtɛs tənt /

noun

• Protestants
  plural

1. any Western Christian who is not an adherent of a Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Church.

2. an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them, usually excluding the Anabaptists.

3. (originally) any of the German princes who protested against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which had denounced the Reformation.

4. protestant, a person who protests.

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adjective

1. belonging or relating to Protestants or their religion.

2. protestant. protesting.

Protestant British  

/ ˈprɒtɪstənt /

noun

1. 1. an adherent of Protestantism

   2. ( as modifier )

      the Protestant Church

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Protestant Cultural  

1. A Christian belonging to one of the three great divisions of Christianity (the other two are the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church). Protestantism began during the Renaissance as a protest against the established (Roman Catholic) church (see also established church). That protest, led by Martin Luther, was called the Reformation, because it sprang from a desire to reform the church and cleanse it of corruption, such as the selling of indulgences.

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Discover More

Protestants hold a great variety of beliefs, but they are united in rejecting the authority of the pope. Protestant groups include the Amish, the Anglican Communion, the Assemblies of God, the Baptists, Christian Science, the Congregationalists, the Lutheran Church, the Mennonites, the Methodists, the Presbyterian Church, and the Quakers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anti-Protestant
  adjective
• non-Protestant
  adjective
• pro-Protestant
  adjective
• unprotestant
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Protestants
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Protestant

First recorded in 1530–40; from French or German, from Latin prōtestantēs “bearing public witness,” plural of present participle of prōtestārī “to bear public witness”; see protest

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Explanation

The adjective protestant describes a person or thing that is protesting or displaying disapproval or objection. You might see protestant young students marching in front of the capital in reaction to the government's newly passed bill. Protestant originates from the Latin word protestari, meaning "declare publicly, testify, protest," which combines pro meaning "forth, before," and testari meaning "testify." A protestant person typically is someone making a public declaration against something he opposes. The protestant residents in your city are against the plan to develop businesses on the waterfront. You were being protestant when you questioned your professor's grading policy in front of the entire class.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Protestant Protestants

A Protestant born in 1885, Weirich opened his shop in Weimar shortly before the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Thousands occupied the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, southwest of Belfast, on Sunday to prevent 35 members of the Protestant Orange Order from marching through the mainly Catholic neighbourhood.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

In other states, local chapters of the mostly Protestant Fellowship of Christian Athletes organize unofficial pregame prayers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Decades of conflict between predominantly Catholic nationalists seeking Irish unity and largely Protestant unionists who wanted to remain in the United Kingdom culminated in the Troubles, which killed more than 3,500 people.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

That day, he was in Breda, in the Low Countries, serving in the army of the Protestant Maurice of Nassau.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

The Orange Order, the most prominent of the loyal orders associated with Protestants in Northern Ireland, holds thousands of parades every year and the vast majority pass off without incident.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

The Christian amendment ultimately failed, largely because not all Protestants supported it.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026

And apart from a rabbi and a retired Catholic archbishop, almost all the 20 listed "faith leaders" who will speak are evangelical Protestants.

From Barron's ● May 17, 2026

That was a subtly unifying note for Catholics and Protestants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

There are a lot of Protestants on this boat.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

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