Protestantism

American  

[prot-uh-stuhn-tiz-uhm] / ˈprɒt ə stənˌtɪz əm /

noun

1. the religion of Protestants.

2. the Protestant churches collectively.

3. adherence to Protestant principles.

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Protestantism British  

/ ˈprɒtɪstənˌtɪzəm /

noun

1. the religion or religious system of any of the Churches of Western Christendom that are separated from the Roman Catholic Church and adhere substantially to principles established by Luther, Calvin, etc, in the Reformation

2. the Protestant Churches collectively

3. adherence to the principles of the Reformation

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Other Word Forms

• anti-Protestantism noun
• pro-Protestantism noun

Etymology

Origin of Protestantism

First recorded in 1640–50; Protestant + -ism

Example Sentences

The rising cohorts of women’s-rights campaigners bore less of an imprint of the orthodox Protestantism than those of Stanton’s generation and had no interest in editing the Bible.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

He says there is an "inherited fault line" on Irish immigration, Irish Catholicism and Scottish Protestantism in the west coast, which goes back to the 19th Century.

From BBC • Aug. 10, 2024

Ufology, like Protestantism, is a big-tent religion, and “A lot of this overlaps,” Janix said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2024

So we've got colonialism and we've got Protestantism.

From Salon • Jul. 22, 2023

But Dorus knew his limitations, and was content to be a pastor in the small community of Zundert, in a church that was part of a small movement in the new, less rigid Dutch Protestantism.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman