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• established church
  established church

  noun

  a church that is recognized by law, and sometimes financially supported, as the official church of a nation.
• Established Church
  Established Church

  noun

  a Church that is officially recognized as a national institution, esp the Church of England

established church

American  

noun

1. a church that is recognized by law, and sometimes financially supported, as the official church of a nation.

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Established Church British  

noun

1. a Church that is officially recognized as a national institution, esp the Church of England

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established church ¹ Cultural  

1. A church supported by the government as a national institution. The Church of England is an established church in England, as is the Lutheran Church in the countries of Scandinavia and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.

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established church ² Cultural  

1. A religious denomination that receives financial and other support from the government, often to the exclusion of support for other denominations. (See under “World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion.”)

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Etymology

Origin of established church

First recorded in 1650–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

established church Established Church

Before it was formed after the American Revolution, Anglicanism was the established church of the Virginia colony.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2022

When the United States was founded, most countries around the world had an established church or religion—an officially sponsored set of religious beliefs and values.

From Textbooks ● Jul. 28, 2021

It started with the Anglican Church, or Church of England, the first established church of the Virginia colony.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2020

An academic theologian, rather than a parish priest, he became for many, the symbol of modernisation and liberal ideas in the established church.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2016

But in this endeavor his superior culture proved an impediment to him, and his widening doctrinal divergence from the established church finally drew upon his head, in 1891, the official curse of the Holy Synod.

From Prophets of Dissent : Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy by Otto Heller

Present was Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to see and certify that the Most Reverend Fathers in God of the Established Church of England did duly swear their oaths of allegiance to the Crown.

From Time Magazine Archive

His inglorious job was to uphold the unpopular Established Church, put down the dissenting Covenanters with a heavy hand.

From Time Magazine Archive

Living in a stratosphere of piety, Lord Hugh regards the Established Church as above and apart from England's Protestant sects.

From Time Magazine Archive

There he spoke his mind about the leaders of the Established Church of England in Manchester's Free Trade Hall.

From Time Magazine Archive

His Nonconformist blood is strong in all his children, and not one of them now belongs to the Established Church.

From Notable Women Authors of the Day Biographical Sketches by Helen C. Black