Anabaptist

American  

[an-uh-bap-tist] / ˌæn əˈbæp tɪst /

noun

1. a member or descendant of a member of any of various Christian sects formed in Europe after 1520 that denied the validity of infant baptism, baptized believers only, emphasized simplicity and nonviolence, and advocated social and economic reforms as well as the complete separation of church and state.

2. Archaic. Baptist.

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adjective

1. of or relating to Anabaptists or Anabaptism.

   The book traces the origin of Anabaptist groups such as the Mennonites and Amish.

Anabaptist British  

/ ˌænəˈbæptɪst /

noun

1. a member of any of various 16th-century Protestant movements that rejected infant baptism, insisted that adults be rebaptized, and sought to establish Christian communism

2. a member of a later Protestant sect holding the same doctrines, esp with regard to baptism

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adjective

1. of or relating to these movements or sects or their doctrines

Other Word Forms

• Anabaptism noun
• Anabaptistically adverb

Etymology

Origin of Anabaptist

First recorded in 1525–35; from New Latin anabaptista, from Medieval Latin anabapt(īzāre) “to rebaptize,” from Late Greek anabaptī́zein; ana-, baptize + -ista -ist

Example Sentences

Obedience doesn’t come easily to the freethinking and endearingly eccentric title character in this beautifully observed novel set within linked Anabaptist communities around the Great Plains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 3, 2025

Other Anabaptist movements included the Hutterites, the Mennonites, and the Amish, which broke from the larger Mennonite movement in the seventeenth century.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Late last year, the Western Anabaptist Mission Service offered to build houses for Malden residents.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2022

He made a haunting point last summer when I saw him speak in New York State at a conference at a Bruderhof community, which has roots in the Anabaptist tradition.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2022

Being an Anabaptist minister in the American Army was difficult enough under the best of circumstances; without dogma, it was almost intolerable.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller