Anabaptist

noun

Ana·​bap·​tist ˌa-nə-ˈbap-tist 

: a Protestant sectarian of a radical movement arising in the 16th century and advocating the baptism and church membership of adult believers only, nonresistance, and the separation of church and state

Anabaptist adjective

Examples of Anabaptist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. —Peter Smith, Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2024

There are about 2,100 Amish residents in Virginia, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, which tracks Amish populations. —Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 10 Mar. 2024

Pennsylvania is home to the country’s largest Amish population, with nearly 90,000 living in 61 settlements across the state, according to Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. —Tribune News Service, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2024

Karl Stutzman is the director of library services at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind. —David Streitfeld, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2023

Engels saw in the ideas of the Anabaptist Thomas Müntzer, leader of the sixteenth-century Peasants’ Revolt in Central Europe, a precursor of modern communism. —Michael Robbins, Harper's Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022

The word Anabaptist is derived from their founding belief that only baptisms performed on adults were legitimate, a deeply heretical position at the time. —Kelsey Osgood, The Atlantic, 28 June 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1531, in the meaning defined above