dissenter

[dih-sen-ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dissenter ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who dissents, as from an established church, political party, or majority opinion.

(sometimes initial capital letter) an English Protestant who dissents from the Church of England.

Origin of dissenter

First recorded in 1630–40; dissent + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for dissenter

skeptic, protester, separatist, heretic, rebel, nonconformist, objector

Examples from the Web for dissenter

Contemporary Examples of dissenter

I think you should give the dissenter the respect to respond to the points that he makes.
Antonin Scalia Believes in the Devil & 8 More Juicy Bits from the ‘New York’ Magazine Profile
Caroline Linton
October 7, 2013
By expressing my doubts, I am clearly a dissenter in this persistent force for progress.
Gays Who Don't Want Gay Marriage
Natalie Neusch
February 26, 2011
McCain thinks of himself as a maverick, an unorthodox thinker, a dissenter.
McCain's Revenge
News Shrink
November 5, 2008

Historical Examples of dissenter

Persecution of a dissenter is always popular in the group which he has abandoned.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner
The dissenter, who declined to pay church-rates, was an unsocial person.
The Toilers of the Field
Richard Jefferies
I am a dissenter, and do not wish my boy to subscribe to the school mission.'
The Longest Journey
E. M. Forster
His mother's a Dissenter, it is true, but the principles of that boy is beautiful.
The Perpetual Curate
Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
You may be very thankful, in that respect, that you are not a dissenter.
Phoebe, Junior
Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant

British Dictionary definitions for dissenter

Dissenter

noun

Christianity, mainly British a Nonconformist or a person who refuses to conform to the established church

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 dissenter

1630s, in 17c. especially of religions (with a capital D- from 1670s); agent noun from dissent.