Prot|es|tant

Prot|es|tant «PROT uh stuhnt», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. a member of any one of certain Christian churches not governed by the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Church, such as those that split off from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation of the 1500's or developed thereafter. Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Unitarians, Quakers, and many others are Protestants.

2. (in the 1600's) a Lutheran or an Anglican, as contrasted with a Calvinist, Presbyterian, Quaker, or other dissenter.

3. one of the German princes who protested the decision of the second diet of Speyer in 1529, which had denounced the Reformation.

–adj.

of Protestants or their religion.

╂[< German or French Protestant one who protests < Latin prōtestans, -antis, present participle of prōtestārī; see etym. under protest (Cf. ↑protest)]

pro|tes|tant «pruh TEHS tuhnt», noun, adjective.

–n.

a person who protests; protester: »

One of the protestants, though his first reaction was milder than most, was Abraham Lincoln (Atlantic).

–adj.

protesting: »

Alan Watt's [book] brings out well the gulf between the protestant lawlessness of the Dharma bums and the traditionalism of Zen Buddhism proper (Manchester Guardian Weekly).

╂[noun use of French protestant, present participle of protester; see etym. under protest (Cf. ↑protest)]