Methodist

American  

[meth-uh-dist] / ˈmɛθ ə dɪst /

noun

Methodists plural

1. a member of the largest Christian denomination that grew out of the revival of religion led by John Wesley: stresses both personal and social morality and has an Arminian doctrine and, in the U.S., a modified episcopal polity.

2. (lowercase) a person who relies greatly or excessively on methods or a particular method.

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adjective

1. Also Methodistic, Methodistical. of or relating to the Methodists or Methodism.

Methodist British  

/ ˈmɛθədɪst /

noun

1. a member of any of the Nonconformist denominations that derive from the system of faith and practice initiated by John Wesley and his followers

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adjective

1. of or relating to Methodism or the Church embodying it (the Methodist Church )

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• non-Methodist
  noun
• anti-Methodist
  adjective
• non-Methodistic
  adjective
• pre-Methodist
  adjective
• pro-Methodist
  adjective
• pseudo-Methodist
  adjective
• Methodistically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Methodists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Methodist

First recorded in 1585–95; method + -ist

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Methodist Methodists

But the last white, Democratic pastor in Congress was Bob Edgar, a Methodist minister representing Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1987.

From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026

The cover of “Communion” eschews the grandeur of a Catholic cathedral, in favor of a photograph of a humble Methodist chapel in a rural part of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026

Carol Kemp, 64, is among a growing number of people receiving meals from the Centenary Methodist Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, according to volunteers.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

The research was led by scientists from the American Museum of Natural History, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, and Southern Methodist University.

From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026

She had spent most of her time in Pittsburgh moving between Daffodil Manor, Aunt Rose’s house, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sundays, since that was the one that Aunt Rose had favored.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

The mainline is a collection of long-established Protestant denominations: the Episcopalians, United Methodists, Presbyterians and so on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Pacific Palisades, founded by Methodists, was a “Christian community” with modern amenities “where the mountains met the coast.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2025

Neither United Methodists nor Free Methodists specifically condemn IVF in their church doctrines.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2024

Nora Mathison: Syracuse University had been founded just three years earlier, in 1870, by forward thinking Methodists.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 28, 2023

The Flournoys having long since returned to the Methodists, it was just the two of them.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns