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

That would preclude an honest rendering of the Christian nationalist foundations of the Klan and its vision of a white Protestant America.

From Salon

He was a Protestant clergyman, head of the Orange Order and MP for South Belfast.

From BBC

Members have heard stories from Black Catholics who were told that communion wasn’t meant for them, since they must be Protestant.

From Los Angeles Times

His grandfather was a Belfast Protestant who married a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland at a time of sectarian intolerance.

From BBC

Kirk called him “one of the most influential Protestant minds since the Reformation,” and a “legend” who “never bowed to the gods of this age” and “never apologized for Scripture.”

From Salon