Protestant

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Protestant \Prot"es*tant\, n. [F. protestant, fr. L. protestans,
     -antis, p. pr. of protestare. See {Protest}, v.]
     One who protests; -- originally applied to those who adhered
     to Luther, and protested against, or made a solemn
     declaration of dissent from, a decree of the Emperor Charles
     V. and the Diet of Spires, in 1529, against the Reformers,


     and appealed to a general council; -- now used in a popular
     sense to designate any Christian who does not belong to the
     Roman Catholic or the Greek Church.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Protestant \Prot"es*tant\, a. [Cf. F. protestant.]
     1. Making a protest; protesting.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Of or pertaining to the faith and practice of those
        Christians who reject the authority of the Roman Catholic
        Church; as, Protestant writers.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Protestant
       adj 1: of or relating to Protestants or Protestantism; "Protestant
              churches"; "a Protestant denomination"
       2: making a protest [syn: {protesting(a)}]
       n 1: an adherent of Protestantism
       2: the Protestant churches and denominations collectively [syn:
           {Protestant Church}]