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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

The Saints are not affiliated with an established church in Australia and count around two dozen members from three families among its members.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025

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

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2022

In Europe, bitter wars were fought between and within states, often because the established church of one territory was in conflict with that of another.

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

The rich property of the hitherto established church was calculated and applied partly to compensating for losses caused by this reform, partly to creating benevolent institutions for the general good.

From Church History, Vol. 3 of 3 by J. H. Kurtz

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

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

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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

This foreign Church, one in doctrine with the Established Church at home, is modified in its agency and development to suit the soil to which it is transplanted.

From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet) Escott