evangelist

American  

[ih-van-juh-list] / ɪˈvæn dʒə lɪst /

noun

1. a Protestant minister or layperson who serves as an itinerant or special preacher, especially a revivalist.

2. a preacher of the gospel.

3. (initial capital letter) any of the writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) of the four Gospels.

4. (in the primitive church) a person who first brought the gospel to a city or region.

5. (initial capital letter) a patriarch.

6. a person marked by evangelical enthusiasm for or support of any cause.

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evangelist ¹ British  

/ ɪˈvændʒɪlɪst /

noun

1. an occasional preacher, sometimes itinerant and often preaching at meetings in the open air

2. a preacher of the Christian gospel

3. any zealous advocate of a cause

4. another word for revivalist

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Evangelist ² British  

/ ɪˈvændʒɪlɪst /

noun

1. any of the writers of the New Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John

2. a senior official or dignitary of the Mormon Church

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Etymology

Origin of evangelist

1125–75; Middle English evangeliste < Latin evangelista < Greek euangelistḗs. See evangel ¹, -ist

Example Sentences

The best leaders are neither AI evangelists nor skeptics.

From Barron's

That this gay romance’s most enthusiastic evangelists are women, then, shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody.

From Salon

I’m a year-round evangelist for the chopped “spoon salad,” where everything in the bowl is scoopable and no bite requires wrestling.

From Salon

Fred’s boss is a man of “slightly unhinged intensity,” whom Fred has seen, more than once, “weep on cue, before the entire district, like a fund-raising evangelist.”

From The Wall Street Journal

AI evangelists believe its sheer economic and computational force make it unstoppable.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• missionary
• pastor
• televangelist