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  • evangelist
    evangelist
    noun
    a Protestant minister or layperson who serves as an itinerant or special preacher, especially a revivalist.
  • Evangelist
    Evangelist
    noun
    any of the writers of the New Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John
Synonyms

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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of evangelist

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

Explanation

An evangelist is a preacher, specifically a Christian preacher. Evangelists are excited to tell everyone all over the world about Christianity. If you're an evangelist, you're a Christian preacher. Unlike other religious words — such as prayer and God — this word is specifically limited to the Christian faith. With a capital e, Evangelist refers specifically to the authors of the Gospels in the New Testament. Sometimes the word is used more loosely when people say someone is an evangelist for a cause, such as vegetarianism or health care: that means they're a strong believer in and proponent of the cause.

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Vocabulary lists containing evangelist

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Michael Saylor is the bitcoin evangelist who has repeatedly emphasized that he would never sell.

From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026

The money behind Objection comes from that same ecosystem: investors like Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan, a crypto evangelist and prediction-market enthusiast.

From Salon • Apr. 23, 2026

Nepo evangelist Franklin Graham wrote that he really believes that Trump thought it was an image of a doctor.

From Slate • Apr. 18, 2026

This AI evangelist is shaking up his 220-year-old employer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

That some viewer will be relieved of his gastric pains just as a television evangelist calls out the symptoms is considerably more likely than that a particular viewer will be.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

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