free church

American

[free church] / ˈfri ˈtʃɜrtʃ /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letters) a church free from state control.
(sometimes initial capital letters) a dissenting or nonconforming church.
(initial capital letters) Also Free Kirk (in Scotland) the church established by those who left the Church of Scotland in 1843.

Free Church British

noun

1. any Protestant Church, esp the Presbyterian, other than the Established Church
2. ( as modifier )
  
  Free-Church attitudes

"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 free church

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

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.

We stand for a free pulpit and a free church.

From Time Magazine Archive

A 1967 graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, York has been backed by a number of local churches in operating a "free church" that ministers to Berke ley hippies.

From Time Magazine Archive

They were ready to assert through every portion of the king's dominions the great principle of a free church in a free state.

From Cavour by Martinengo-Cesaresco, Countess Evelyn

It is in recognition of this that we have a free church and free parish house.

From Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati by Herrick, Warren Crocker

"A free church in a free state," now, as then, may be our ideal; but we still seek the means wherewith to build it.

From Political Thought in England from Locke to Bentham by Laski, Harold Joseph

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023