any law requiring a person to belong to the established church of a country as a condition for holding public office.
(initial capital letters) the statute (1673) requiring all military officers and public officials to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown, receive the sacraments of the Church of England, and reject the doctrine of transubstantiation: repealed in 1828.
First recorded in 1700–10
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The only test act that science knows is that of the recognition of truth.
From History of Human Society by Blackmar, Frank W. (Frank Wilson)
A motion to relieve the Scottish presbyterians from the obligation of the test act was lost by a large majority, and a motion for the relief of unitarians, which must be noticed later, also failed.
From The Political History of England - Vol. X. The History of England from the Accession of George III to the close of Pitt's first Administration by Poole, Reginald Lane
In sixteen-eight-eight his bigot zeal Religious Test Act would repeal; Seven bold Bishops who defied To the Tower were sent and tried.
From A Humorous History of England by Harrison, Charles
The act regulating this matter was known as the Test Act, which remained in force from the days of Charles II. to those of George IV.
From England in the Days of Old by Andrews, William
A certain Samuel Smith went about telling the people that Franklin had planned the Stamp Act and intended to have the Test Act put in force in America.
From The True Benjamin Franklin by Fisher, Sydney George
He dismissed Halifax from the Privy Council on his refusal to consent to a plan for repealing the Test Act.
From History of the English People, Volume VII The Revolution, 1683-1760; Modern England, 1760-1767 by Green, John Richard
Hence the Occasional Conformity Act, to prevent evasion of the Test Act, and a tyrannical Schism Act, both repealed in 1718, belong rather to the history of parties than to that of the church.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 4 "England" to "English Finance" by Various
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.
