pertaining to or based on the principle of ecclesiastical government by presbyters or presbyteries.
(initial capital letter) designating or pertaining to various churches having this form of government and professing more or less modified forms of Calvinism.
First recorded in 1635–45; presbytery + -an
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Does she have a point that her denomination, the presbyterian Free Church of Scotland - which is often described as socially conservative or even fundamentalist - is not alone in its teachings?
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2023
St Giles' has seen strong Scots women before: Jenny Geddes, in a burst of presbyterian fervour, threw a stool at the minister in the 17th century for daring to introduce an Anglican-tinged prayer book.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2014
Mack, a pastor at St Andrew's presbyterian church in Saint-Lambert, is a longtime friend of Chassagne's father.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2013
The presbyterian atmosphere of Sutherland's home in her native Sydney was the result of her father William McDonald Sutherland's being a Scots immigrant.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 11, 2010
And a little after, “I desire the Parliament to consider another presbyterian principle that excludes your honourable Assembly from being church officers.”
From The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) by Gillespie, George
The Northern Ireland Survivor Council had expressed "serious concern" about Gamble's involvement because his company is also undertaking a review into the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The Presbyterian Church of the U.S. and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, a Catholic religious order, filed the respective proposals.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
Khimberly was taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, where she was evaluated, treated and released that same day, according to her family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
In the 1930s, his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, had attended high school there, on a sprawling Presbyterian mission compound on Pyongyang’s west side.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
One Sunday in 1967, after services at Carver Presbyterian Church, Katherine Johnson spied a new face in the crowd, a young woman who had come to the church with her husband and two young daughters.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
