Skip to main content
Methodist

Methodist

15 3.8
A person who belongs to the Methodist church and follows its Christian teachings
  • noun
  • /ˈmɛθədɪst/
: metodista
  • He became a Methodist after finding a welcoming congregation that embraced his beliefs.

We have Catholics and Methodists and we freeze and lots of other Christian denominations.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Methodists all over the state exchanged preachers once a year, in May.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The case was brought against Ascot by a Methodist class leader and made its way to the Court of Arches.

  • Have you two ever considered visiting the methodist church down the street?

  • And my church, along with many other Methodist churches, have decided to leave the United Methodist Church.

  • I was raised in a family that went to a Methodist Church, a pretty liberal one in a small town in Michigan.

  • No, that's a Methodist activity.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • All right, I learned that Hillary got her introduction to social justice through her Methodist youth minister Don Jones.

  • Methodists affirm that Christ may be present in the faithful human heart.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Methodists were everywhere—the closest thing to a national religion that it seemed we had.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Methodists frequently preached in hospitals, and Wesley's Journal shows that he made a point of touring and inspecting the hospitals of every major town that he visited.

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

Wesleyan Methodists
vsMethodist
1 7.3

People who follow the Christian teachings of John Wesley and belong to churches of his movement

is a member of the denomination following both John and Charles Wesley

Compounds

A Christian group that follows John Wesley's teaching and cares about personal faith and social justice

A large Protestant church group in the United States formed in 1968

A group of churches that follow Methodist beliefs and have similar worship and rules

A Christian church group that follows John Wesley's teachings

Surface Forms

Methodist singular
Methodists plural

Morphology

Methodist = method (semi-transparent) = method + ist

Formed by adding the productive agentive suffix '-ist' to 'method', but the specific religious-denominational meaning (member of Methodism) is a specialized sense not directly inferable from 'method' alone.

Etymology

Methodist comes from the word method (a 'way' or 'system') plus the ending -ist meaning a person. It was first used as a nickname for students at Oxford who followed a strict method of prayer and study with John and Charles Wesley, so a Methodist is a person who follows that way or belongs to the church.