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

A wave of conversions to Protestantism and a surge of defections to secularism have weakened the church’s once-ironclad hold.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

Indonesia has six officially recognised religions -- Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.

From BBC • Sep. 5, 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

Doubting that Christianity or Protestantism was a precondition for the Scientific Revolution leaves plenty of scope for studying the interaction between faith and science: e.g.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton