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 ( def ).

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 .

Notes

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 Words From

• an·ti-Prot·es·tant adjective noun
• non-Prot·es·tant adjective noun
• pro-Prot·es·tant adjective noun
• un·prot·es·tant 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

In some analyses, Catholics have no impact on literacy at all unless they faced direct competition for souls from Protestant missions.

From Nautilus

Today, about 40 percent of the country’s 300-member National Assembly are Protestant.

From Ozy

Twenty percent of South Korea’s 52 million people identify as Protestant and 8 percent as Catholic.

From Ozy

A Protestant minister and a Roman Catholic priest read prayers over the caskets.

From Voice of San Diego

By contrast, wealthy New Yorkers from Protestant backgrounds generally escaped the ravages of cholera by fleeing to the country.

From No Straight News

There were a few German Americans, a few Jews, and just five white Protestant aldermen.

From The Daily Beast

The Protestant-run Bethany Home was set up in Dublin in 1921 and closed in 1972.

From The Daily Beast

And mainline Protestant denominations find themselves shrinking.

From The Daily Beast

Mainline Protestant denominations are in marked decline and Evangelical Christianity is in slow retrograde.

From The Daily Beast

I am a white evangelical Protestant, or at least I was until persuaded to leave a couple of years ago.

From The Daily Beast

Hugh Brady, appointed by patent in 1563, was a purely Protestant bishop.

From Project Gutenberg

So, as he tells us, did one more Protestant pass over to the worship of Lucifer.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes Mazzini speaks as if he accepted the whole Protestant doctrine of individual judgment, and in a sense he does.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a virtuous deed to slaughter Protestant men and women until they were all exterminated.

From Project Gutenberg

But the new Protestant teachers were much more enthusiastic about the Bible.

From Project Gutenberg