Anabaptist

[an-uh-bap-tist]

noun

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.

Archaic. Baptist(def 1).

adjective

of or relating to Anabaptists or Anabaptism.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for anabaptist

Historical Examples of anabaptist

It is directly from them that the Anabaptist movement of history dates its origin.
German Culture Past and Present
Ernest Belfort Bax
I know not what to say or do about that Anabaptist as Holroyd calls him.
Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)
Edward Gibbon
You will not make the Protestant-Mercury to be an Anabaptist too, will ye?
Selections from the Observator (1681-1687)
Roger L'Estrange
Then a court was established to try the Anabaptist prisoners.
A History of the Reformation (Vol. 2 of 2)
Thomas M. Lindsay
The three Anabaptist leaders wish to put the Count to death.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb

British Dictionary definitions for anabaptist

Anabaptist

noun

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

a member of a later Protestant sect holding the same doctrines, esp with regard to baptism

adjective

of or relating to these movements or sects or their doctrines

Derived FormsAnabaptism, noun

Word Origin for Anabaptist

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 anabaptist

Anabaptist

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.