Plymouth Brethren

American  

plural noun

singular

Plymouth Brother

1. a loosely organized body of Christians founded in Plymouth, England, about 1830, having no ordained ministry, no formal creed or ritual, and accepting the Bible as the only guide.

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Plymouth Brethren British  

plural noun

1. a religious sect founded c. 1827, strongly Puritanical in outlook and prohibiting many secular occupations for its members. It combines elements of Calvinism, Pietism, and millenarianism, and has no organized ministry

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Etymology

Origin of Plymouth Brethren

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

A religious group - the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church - has put 30 trade bins in five locations across the city centre which will be filled, then removed by its volunteers.

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2022

Mr. Weidenfeld’s memory of being offered sanctuary in prewar Britain by the Plymouth Brethren, an evangelical Christian denomination, remained with him his whole life.

From New York Times • Jan. 20, 2016

In 1938, still a teenager, he was brought from Vienna to London where the Plymouth Brethren took him in and provided for him.

From Washington Post • Jul. 30, 2015

Darby was a founding father of the Plymouth Brethren Church, which has its roots in Anglicanism, and he explored a concept called “dispensationalism.”

From Washington Times • Jun. 26, 2014

When I was a lad it was one of the first towns to welcome the Plymouth Brethren into Suffolk, and they are there still. 

From East Anglia Personal Recollections and Historical Associations by Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)