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Anabaptist

[an-uh-bap-tist]
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noun
  1. a member of any of various Protestant sects, formed in Europe after 1520, that denied the validity of infant baptism, baptized believers only, and advocated social and economic reforms as well as the complete separation of church and state.
  2. Archaic. Baptist(def 1).
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adjective
  1. of or relating to Anabaptists or Anabaptism.
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Origin of Anabaptist

1525–35; < New Latin anabaptista < Medieval Latin anabapt(īzāre) to rebaptize (< Late Greek anabaptī́zein; see ana-, baptize) + -ista -ist
Related formsAn·a·bap·tism, nounAn·a·bap·tis·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for anabaptism

Historical Examples

  • It was in the year 1526 that Anabaptism first made its appearance in Strassburg.

    German Culture Past and Present

    Ernest Belfort Bax

  • An allusion to the controversies on anabaptism and the real presence.

  • I do not propose to trace his evolution from Anabaptism to Agnosticism.

    The Book-Bills of Narcissus

    Le Gallienne, Richard

  • They cast upon him these reproaches, as is said, because he had fallen under suspicion of Anabaptism.

  • It was not so much positive doctrines as an attitude of mind that was the ruling spirit in Anabaptism and like movements.

British Dictionary definitions for anabaptism

Anabaptist

noun
  1. a member of any of various 16th-century Protestant movements that rejected infant baptism, insisted that adults be rebaptized, and sought to establish Christian communism
  2. a member of a later Protestant sect holding the same doctrines, esp with regard to baptism
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adjective
  1. of or relating to these movements or sects or their doctrines
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Derived FormsAnabaptism, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Ecclesiastical Latin anabaptista, from anabaptīzāre to baptize again, from Late Greek anabaptizein; see ana-, baptize
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anabaptism

n.

1640s (as a Christian doctrine, with capital A-, from 1570s), from Medieval Latin anabaptismus, from Late Greek anabaptismos, from ana- "up (in place or time), back again, anew" (see ana-) + baptismos "baptism" (see baptism).

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Anabaptist

n.

1530s, "one who baptizes over again," from Modern Latin anabaptista, from Latin anabaptismus "second baptism" (used in literal sense from 4c.; see anabaptism).

Originally in English in reference to sect that practiced adult baptism and arose in Germany 1521. Probably so called because, as a new faith, they baptized converts who already had been baptized (as infants) in the older Christian churches. Modern branches only baptize once (adults) and do not actively seek converts. The name also was applied, usually opprobriously, to Baptists, perhaps due to the multiple immersions of their baptisms.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper