Nonconformists

Cultural  

1. Protestants in England in the seventeenth century and afterward who refused to belong to the Church of England, which was the established church (see also established church) for Protestants in the country. Many Protestant churches in the United States, such as the Congregationalists, are rooted in the teachings of the English Nonconformists. The Nonconformists are also called Dissenters.

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Example Sentences

The Toleration Act of 1689 suspended penalties against Nonconformists, though it did not mention Catholics, Deists, or non-Christians.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2015

Over the next twenty years, over 2,500 places of public worship for Nonconformists sprang up.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2015

Nonconformists of all kinds must be careful in the increasingly straitlaced England of the 1820s.

From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2015

Nonconformists will find blue-chip Napa Valley wines and a deep pocket of whites from Alsace, Germany and Austria, where Mr. Glocker was born.

From New York Times • Aug. 26, 2014

This affection for the Old Testament has never died out among the Nonconformists.

From Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature by Bardsley, Charles W.