Jump To:

• 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.

---

Established Church British  

noun

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

---

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.

---

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.”)

---

Etymology

Origin of established church

First recorded in 1650–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

established church Established Church

Christianity in Africa had been inextricably tied to the missionary model, in which Europeans came to Africa and established church missions to spread the Christian faith.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

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

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2022

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

"A relic of the established church of colonial days," I remarked.

From In Jeopardy by Van Tassel Sutphen

As "Defender of the Faith." and official head of the Established Church, Queen Elizabeth cannot consent officially to such a marriage, even though Townsend was the innocent party in the divorce.

From Time Magazine Archive

After Cambridge, Ramsey entered Cuddesdon College, a theological seminary near Oxford, and began his rapid and seemingly effortless rise to the top rank of the Established Church.

From Time Magazine Archive

England's Established Church has little to do with nonconformists on the one side, Roman Catholics on the other.

From Time Magazine Archive

The bishops will have to vote on them in March, the Church as a whole in July, and later Parliament, for in the end Parliament controls the Established Church in Egland.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1819 he entered the university of Glasgow with the intention of becoming a minister of the Established Church.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various