Protestant

[prot-uh-stuhnt, pruh-tes-tuhnt]

noun

1. any Western Christian who is not an adherent of a Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Church.

2. an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them, usually excluding the Anabaptists.

3. (originally) any of the German princes who protested against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which had denounced the Reformation.

4. protestant, a person who protests.

adjective

1. belonging or relating to Protestants or their religion.

2. protestant. protesting.

Protestant

/ ˈprɒtɪstənt /

noun

1. 1. an adherent of Protestantism

   2. ( as modifier )

      the Protestant Church

Protestant

1. A Christian belonging to one of the three great divisions of Christianity (the other two are the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church). Protestantism began during the Renaissance as a protest against the established (Roman Catholic) church (see also established church). That protest, led by Martin Luther, was called the Reformation, because it sprang from a desire to reform the church and cleanse it of corruption, such as the selling of indulgences.

Protestants hold a great variety of beliefs, but they are united in rejecting the authority of the pope. Protestant groups include the Amish, the Anglican Communion, the Assemblies of God, the Baptists, Christian Science, the Congregationalists, the Lutheran Church, the Mennonites, the Methodists, the Presbyterian Church, and the Quakers.

Other Word Forms

• anti-Protestant adjective
• non-Protestant adjective
• pro-Protestant adjective
• unprotestant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Protestant¹

First recorded in 1530–40; from French or German, from Latin prōtestantēs “bearing public witness,” plural of present participle of prōtestārī “to bear public witness”; protest

Example Sentences

Han took over leadership of the Unification Church after the death of her husband Moon Sun-myung, who founded the assembly in 1954 after he was rejected by mainstream Protestant churches.

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The Glorious Revolution in England the following year resulted in two Protestant sovereigns elevated to the throne.

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Holding a pen like a gun grimly acknowledges Irish history, opposition to British rule as well as the sectarian Troubles between Protestants and Catholics.

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They rode to work in Rolls-Royces and adhered to a Protestant ethic of noblesse oblige.

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She said the recent revelations about safeguarding failings in Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant denomination, the Presbyterian Church, showed how "current" the issues were, and that they were "not historical".

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