Baptist
Americannoun
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a member of a Christian denomination that baptizes believers by immersion and that is usually Calvinistic in doctrine.
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(lowercase) a person who baptizes.
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the Baptist. John the Baptist.
adjective
noun
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a member of any of various Christian sects that affirm the necessity of baptism (usually of adults and by immersion) following a personal profession of the Christian faith
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See John the Baptist
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Baptist
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English baptiste, from Old French, from Late Latin baptista, from Greek baptistḗs, equivalent to bapt(ízein) “to baptize ” + -istēs -ist
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As a Christian minister of an American Baptist congregation, I’ve spent more than 20 years in a pulpit — long enough to know the difference between protecting a church and conscripting one.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
He shared a first name with his father, a Baptist minister and a leader of the Black community in Terre Haute, Ind. His older siblings were A students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Baptist minister Justin Kennedy, who says he underwent conversion practices in his early 20s, says a ban will help prevent harm.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
The former seminarian, whose grandfather was a Baptist preacher, "has the right, wonderful principles and all of the plans to put into effect that will make the country great again," she said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 13, 2026
Scoob knows all about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He and Dad have gone to Ebenezer Baptist Church and Dr. King’s birth home every MLK Day since Scoob learned how to walk.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
Born in Michigan and raised in Glendale by devout Baptists, he became conscious of “the shame and the degradation” of poverty when his father’s business ventures flopped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2024
Both are Baptists who talk about faith values.
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2024
For six months, almost no one took notice of the brief filed quietly by Southern Baptists in a case winding its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
The Osteens were both Southern Baptists, and John Osteen pastored a congregation in Houston at the time.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
If the Baptists hadn’t taken upon themselves the religious conversion of the Congolese.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
