protestant

adj

1. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Protestant.

   “a protestant effort”

   “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.”

   “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?”

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

   “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.”

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

   “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.”

noun

1. One 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!”

2. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Protestant.
3. A 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).
4. (historical)A member of the Church of England or Church of Ireland, as distinct from Protestant nonconformists or dissenters.

   “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.”

   “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.”