high church

noun

A tradition within the Anglican church with an elevated view of the priesthood, episcopacy, and sacraments, practising a formal style of liturgy and emphasising continuity with Catholicism.

Similar
High Anglican Church
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

high church1

nounhigh church (uncountable)

alternative High Church · alternative high-church

  1. uncountableAnglicanismA tradition within the Anglican church with an elevated view of the priesthood, episcopacy, and sacraments, practising a formal style of liturgy and emphasising continuity with Catholicism.
  2. broadlyuncountableAny similar Christian tradition.
adjectivehigh church (comparative more high church, superlative most high church)

comparative more high church · superlative most high church · alternative High Church · alternative high-church

  1. Characteristic of or pertaining to such a tradition.

High Church2

nounHigh Church (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of high church.
adjectiveHigh Church (comparative more High Church, superlative most High Church)

comparative more High Church · superlative most High Church

  1. Alternative letter-case form of high church.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna group in the Anglican Church that emphasizes the Catholic tradition (especially in sacraments and rituals and obedience to church authority)

Similar
High Anglican Church
Broader
sectreligious sectreligious order

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Back-formation from High Churchman, originally denoting an opponent of religious toleration with high meaning “extreme”; see churchman (“supporter of the established church”). Compare High Tory.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

high church. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20church

MLA

“high church.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20church. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “high church,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/high%20church.

Source: high church on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.