evangelist

noun

evan·​ge·​list i-ˈvan-jə-list 

1

often capitalized : a writer of any of the four Gospels

2

: a person who evangelizes

specifically : a Protestant minister or layman who preaches at special services

3

: an enthusiastic advocate

an evangelist for physical fitness

Examples of evangelist in a Sentence

an evangelist of space exploration

Recent Examples on the Web

Solar eclipses are now big business and less in need of an evangelist, said Kevin Reardon, a Williams alumnus and now a scientist with the National Solar Observatory and the University of Colorado Boulder, in an interview. —Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024

Although starting a charcoal grill requires a little more effort than propane grills, charcoal evangelists like pitmaster Patrick Feges, owner of Feges BBQ in Houston, firmly believe the effort is worth the difference in flavor. —Carrie Honaker, Southern Living, 1 Apr. 2024

The life of the late American evangelist is the subject of Tammy Faye, a new musical with music from legendary songwriter Elton John and lyrics by Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears. —Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 22 Mar. 2024

With Hollywood’s bulkiest coffers and most advanced technologies at his disposal, Villeneuve becomes a prophet in the wilderness, an evangelist for that old-time religion known as the movies. —Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024

The bet, Green says, was in part motivated by a desire to highlight areas of weakness in the economic theory presented as dogma by bitcoin evangelists. —Joel Khalili, WIRED, 12 Mar. 2024

Over the years, bitcoin evangelists have won key converts in tech and finance—from Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey to Larry Fink and Ray Dalio. —Sam Lyman, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024

But for true evangelists, the dream is for self-learning to do more than that—to add more butter to the slice of toast. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2024

Young has been an evangelist for high-resolution streaming for years. —Chris Morris, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

evangelist

noun

evan·​ge·​list i-ˈvan-jə-ləst 

: a Christian preacher who goes about from place to place trying to change or increase people's religious feelings

Etymology

Middle English evangelist "one of the writers of the four Gospels," from early French and Latin evangelista (same meaning), from Greek euangelizein "to preach the gospel," from euangelion "good news, gospel," from eu- "good" and angelos "messenger, angel"