protestant
pronunciation
How to pronounce protestant in British English:
UK ['prɒtɪstənt]
How to pronounce protestant in American English:
US ['prɑtɪstənt]
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- Adjective:
- making a protest
Word Origin
- Protestant (n., adj.)
- 1539, from German or French protestant, from Latin protestantem (nominative protestans), present participle of protestari (see protest (n.)). Originally used of German princes and free cities who declared their dissent from ("protested") the decision of the Diet of Speyer (1529), which reversed the liberal terms allowed Lutherans in 1526. When forced to make their choice between obedience to God and obedience to the Emperor, they were compelled to choose the former. [Thomas M. Lindsay, "A History of the Reformation," New York, 1910] The word was taken up by the Lutherans in Germany (Swiss and French preferred Reformed). It became the general word for "adherents of the Reformation in Germany," then "member of any Western church outside the Roman communion;" a sense first attested in English in 1553.In the 17c., 'protestant' was primarily opposed to 'papist,' and thus accepted by English Churchmen generally; in more recent times, being generally opposed to 'Roman Catholic,' or ... to 'Catholic,' ... it is viewed with disfavour by those who lay stress on the claim of the Anglican Church to be equally Catholic with the Roman. [OED]Often contemptuous shortened form Prot is from 1725, in Irish English. Protestant (work) ethic (1926) is taken from Max Weber's work "Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus" (1904). Protestant Reformation attested by 1680s.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Protestant opinion was more closely divided .
- 2. Protestant countries disapprove of cruelty to animals .
- 3. Though mocked as otherworldly , he stuck to his crusade for a " new ireland " - reunified or not , as the majority in the north wanted it-in which catholic and protestant identities would be equally celebrated .
- 4. Holding a progressive line is more difficult when members of the protestant working-class sense that their community loses every battle over marching and symbols .
- 5. Max weber , one of the fathers of religious sociology , contrasted the transcendental feelings enjoyed by catholic mass-goers with the protestant obsession with behaviour .