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

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

So much even a monarchy with an established church could do for a republican author, and a freethinker; for Bonneville had published heresies like those of Paine.

From The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. II. (of II) With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and England by Moncure Daniel Conway

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

From Time Magazine Archive

He points out that although the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Established Church in England is strong among the clergy, especially in Canterbury, yet the movement has but a weak hold on the laity.

From Time Magazine Archive

She could only hope that if she married outside the Established Church, of which her sister the Queen is head, even the church itself might in time prove forgiving.

From Time Magazine Archive

For the first time in centuries, the Commons of Great Britain reversed, last week, a vital decision by the Peers and Bishops touching the very life of the Established Church of England.

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