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 truly he was not deceived in him; for Mr. Wood was true and faithful to the presbyterian government; nothing could prevail upon him to comply in the least degree with abjured prelacy.
From Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies by Howie, John
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.
