protestant

noun prot·es·tant \ ˈprä-təs-tənt , sense 2 is also prə-ˈtes- \

Definition of protestant

1 capitalized

a :any of a group of German princes and cities presenting a defense of freedom of conscience against an edict of the Diet of Spires in 1529 intended to suppress the Lutheran movement

b :a member of any of several church denominations denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth; broadly :a Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern church

2 :one who makes or enters a protest

—

Protestantism

play \ˈprä-təs-tən-ˌti-zəm\ noun

See protestant defined for kids

Recent Examples of protestant from the Web

His subdivision was plotted in 1873 and by the 1880s families were meeting in various homes as various protestant denominations.

— Cincinnati.com, "Column: History of Church of the Resurrection in Fernbank," 2 Aug. 2017
His support among white evangelical protestants and white men without a college degree sank double-digits and support among whites and rural Americans fell by 9 points.

— ryan struyk, CNN, "Over half of modern presidents never hit an approval rating as low as Trump," 18 July 2017
There were not enough Protestants of any of the non-Catholic denominations to afford the building of a church.

— adele foster, NOLA.com, "Mandeville Bible Church, established in 1876, breathes history on Carroll Street," 16 July 2017
Should this state, this city, this town, this neighborhood, even this street reflect the culture, values, interests, and desires of Protestants or Catholics?

— jonathan s. blake, The Atlantic, "What a Protestant Parade Reveals About Theresa May's New Partners," 11 July 2017
After Brown v. the Board of Education forced public schools to integrate in 1954, white Christians—even protestants—flocked to Catholic schools like Keough.

— steven thrasher, Esquire, "What Netflix's True-Crime Series The Keepers Says About White Power in America," 15 June 2017
Protestants resented Catholic immigrants founding parochial schools that taught Catholicism as forthrightly as public schools taught Protestantism with prayers, hymn singing and readings from the King James version of the Bible.

— george f. will, The Denver Post, "A case for preventing children’s scraped knees," 15 Apr. 2017
Fundamentalist Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, Mormons—

— roger parloff, The New Yorker, "Christian Bakers, Gay Weddings, and a Question for the Supreme Court," 6 Mar. 2017
In the past decade, U.S. nones have overtaken Catholics, mainline protestants, and all followers of non-Christian faiths.

— National Geographic, "The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion," 22 Apr. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'protestant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of protestant

Middle French, from Latin protestant-, protestans, present participle of protestari

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1539

See Words from the same year

Other Christian Religious Terms

Pentateuch, blasphemy, curate, doxology, eremite, iconoclasm, liturgy, orison, pneuma, reliquary

protestant

adjective

Definition of protestant

1 capitalized :of or relating to Protestants, their churches, or their religion

2 :making or sounding a protest

the two protestant ladies up and marched out
—Time

Recent Examples of protestant from the Web

In the '70s and '80s, polos were peak WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) cool, a foundation of fashion designer Ralph Lauren’s style empire.

— jared michael lowe, Teen Vogue, "How Polo Shirts Became a White Supremacist Uniform," 29 Aug. 2017
International students’ attendance at the college was part of a larger effort at religious and imperial expansion as many of these students were brought to the college by American Protestant missionaries overseas.

— leila mcneill, Smithsonian, "This 19th Century Lady Doctor Helped Usher Indian Women Into Medicine," 24 Aug. 2017
Moore’s brother, John, became a naval chaplain; her longer poems’ resemblance to sermons echoes John’s, and Mary’s, Protestant piety.

— stephen burt, New York Times, "Marianne Moore’s Poetry, the Way She Intended It," 11 Aug. 2017
PRRI, for example, asks those surveyed to self-identify by race (e.g., white), by religion (e.g. Protestant Christian), and then as Evangelical or born-again, if applicable.

— jeff cimmino, National Review, "For Evangelicals, the Marriage Debate Is Just Beginning," 20 July 2017
Henry was the first student of Foreign Mission School in Cornwall and the inspiration for the Protestant missions to Hawaii.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Colchester Edition," 17 July 2017
Aside from his creative dreams, Will also comes to town with a secret mission, carrying a clandestine message for his cousin, a leader to Catholics subjected to persecution by England's Protestant government.

— brian lowry, CNN, "'Will' puts fresh spin on young Shakespeare saga," 10 July 2017
Today’s tech world is inextricably linked to the Protestant-ethic-on-steroids ethos that Livingston et al lament.

— danielle tcholakian, Longreads, "Why Don’t We Work Less?," 28 June 2017
This obviously raises a few questions—was there a car Protestant Reformation, and a car Julius Caesar, and a car World War II?

— vanityfair.com, "CARS 3," 16 June 2017