Christian

¹

[ kris-chuhn ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings:

   a Christian faith.

2. of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ:

   Spain is a Christian country.

3. of or relating to Christians:

   many Christian deaths in the Crusades.

4. exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike:

   She displayed true Christian charity.

5. Sometimes Offensive. decent; respectable:

   They gave him a good Christian burial.

6. Sometimes Offensive. human; not brutal; humane:

   Such behavior isn't Christian.

noun

1. a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity.
2. a person who exemplifies in their life the teachings of Christ:

   He died like a true Christian.

3. a member of any of certain Protestant churches, as the Disciples of Christ and the Plymouth Brethren.
4. the hero of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
5. a male given name.

Christian

²

[ kris-chuhn ]

noun

1. Charlie, 1916–42, U.S. jazz guitarist.

Christian

¹

/ ˈkrɪstʃən /

noun

1. 1. a person who believes in and follows Jesus Christ
   2. a member of a Christian Church or denomination
2. informal.
   a person who possesses Christian virtues, esp practical ones

adjective

1. of, relating to, or derived from Jesus Christ, his teachings, example, or his followers
2. sometimes not capital exhibiting kindness or goodness

Christian

²

/ ˈkrɪstʃən /

noun

1. ChristianCharlie19191942MUSMUSIC: jazz guitarist Charlie. 1919–42, US jazz guitarist

Christian

¹

1. A follower of Jesus and his teachings. Christian is also a descriptive term for the institutions and practices of Christianity .

Christian

²

1. A follower or disciple of Jesus ; someone who believes Jesus is the Christ or Messiah . The New Testament mentions that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians within a few years after his death.

Derived Forms

• ˈChristianly, adjectiveadverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of Christian¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Latin Chrīstiānus, from Greek Chrīstiānós, equivalent to Chrīst(ós) Christ + -iānos, from Latin -iānus -ian; replacing Middle English, Old English cristen from Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Chick-fil-A courted conservatives with its “Christian” values, while Skyy Vodka signals its liberalness by sponsoring New York’s Pride parade.

From Eater

Anybody who is a Christian or a Hindu or a Parsi or a Jain, but Muslims cannot.

From MIT Technology Review

“As an evangelical Christian, I’ve already got some things that I believe that the mainstream would consider conspiracy,” he says.

From MIT Technology Review

So Mousa invited Christian soccer teams in two cities in the region, Ankawa and Qaraqosh, to participate in her experiment, eventually recruiting 51 teams to create four leagues.

From Science News

However, both ancient Jewish and ancient Christian sources viewed these goods as “fair wages,” in the words of the scholar James Kugel – just repayments for the Israelites’ years of slave labor.

From No Straight News

But the enemy of the new emirs is neither the Jew nor the Christian, it is the godless militant defending secularism.

From The Daily Beast

In 2009, a Pakistani Christian woman got into a religious argument with some Muslim women with whom she was harvesting berries.

From The Daily Beast

The breakdown of the 114th Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian.

From The Daily Beast

Congress is now 92 percent Christian, resembling more to a papal enclave than our religiously diverse nation.

From The Daily Beast

Within a few swipes, I was already feeling that burst of romantic optimism you need the first day of the (Christian) new year.

From The Daily Beast

I shall therefore, in my effort to prove the Bible fallible, quote almost wholly from Christian critics.

From Project Gutenberg

Hence it can be seen what hope there is of establishing a flourishing christian church by such evangelists.

From Project Gutenberg

His superior talents and untiring industry were under the direction of philanthropic and Christian impulses.

From Project Gutenberg

"Marco's" reply conclusively proved his possession of a Christian spirit.

From Project Gutenberg

All religions, the Christian religion included, are adaptations or variants of older religions.

From Project Gutenberg