protestant

comparative more protestant · superlative most protestant

1. Alternative letter-case form of Protestant.

   a protestant effort

   1 more example

   protestant work ethic

2. Protesting.

   He cut his Psychology once or twice, nor could he succeed, during office hours, in keeping his mind on office-routine. His superiors became impatient and then protestant.

   1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope Again in the Country”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, →OCLC, page 274

   1 more example

   Her sense of desolation, the knowledge that for some reason, God alone knew why, she loved him, made her for a moment protestant. Why not ? Why shouldn’t I write to him?

   1932, Graham Greene, Stamboul Train, Penguin, published 1963, Part 4, Chapter 4, p. 191

plural protestants

1. lawOne who protests; a protester.

   These are too mean parts of the pageant: and you don't hear widows' cries or mothers' sobs in the midst of the shouts and jubilation in the great Chorus of Victory. And yet when was the time that such have not cried out: heart-broken, humble protestants, unheard in the uproar of the triumph!

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

   1 more example

   1915 November 3, decision in the case of the State of New Mexico v. Garrett, published in 1916 among the Decisions of the Department of the Interior in Cases Relating to Public Lands, volume 44 (edited by George J Hesselman), page 490: In the case of Hyacinthe Villeneuve a homestead entry had been allowed upon a tract of land that had been patented to the Santa Fe Railroad Company, whose grantees had expressed a willingness to reconvey in order that effect might be given to the equities of the homesteader, whereas in the present case the State stands in the position of a protestant.

2. Alternative letter-case form of Protestant.

plural Protestants · alternative protestant

1. ChristianityA member of any of several Christian denominations which separated from the Roman Catholic Church based on theological or political differences during the Reformation (or in some cases later).
2. historicalA member of the Church of England or Church of Ireland, as distinct from Protestant nonconformists or dissenters.

   MR. SEXTON said, he had always understood that the difference between Protestants and Presbyterians was not a difference of creed, but as to episcopacy and practice.

   1893 June 14, Hansard 4th series Vol 13 HC Deb c.1001

   1 more example

   To unite the whole people of Ireland; to abolish the memory of all past dissensions; and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter—these were my means.

   1827 [1796] Theobald Wolfe Tone, Memoirs Vol.1 p.64 (Henry Colburn, London) ed. William Theobald Wolfe Tone

comparative more Protestant · superlative most Protestant · alternative protestant

1. ChristianityOf or pertaining to several denominations of Christianity that separated from the Roman Catholic Church based on theological or political differences during the Reformation.

   To make this perfectly clear, we shall contrast a few of the most Protestant with a few of the most Roman Catholic counties.

   1855, Napoléon Roussel, Catholic and Protestant Nations Compared, volumes 1-2, page 120

   2 more examples

   It is not perhaps too much to say, that a more harmonious, a more decorous, a more loyal, a more Protestant, a more Christian meeting, never took place within the walls of our ancient city.

   1840, Norwich Operative Protestant Association, Released statement, The Penny Protestant Operative, page 15

   For reasons to do with the predominantly Lutheran rather than Calvinist heritage (and to some extent with the postwar division of Germany which hived off the more Protestant East), the participation of Protestants in the CDU has been small.

   2004, Paul Freston, Protestant Political Parties: A Global Survey, page 27

   Synonyms: Christian