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⛪ A Protestant 💉 A drug injector 🏡 A Main Line resident
mainliner

mainliner

8.5
A person who belongs to an older Protestant church like Methodist or Episcopal
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪnˌlaɪnər/
  • US
translation icon : protestante

Examples

  • 'You know what a mainliner is?'

    Touch of Evil (1958)

  • You're an a number-one mainliner.

    Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

  • Many mainliners believe in the importance of social justice and community service in their faith.

  • As a mainliner, she regularly attended services at the local Methodist church.

  • The events hosted by mainliners often emphasize inclusivity and support for those in need.

Synonyms

Protestant
vsmainliner
59 3.7

A person who belongs to a Christian church that broke away from the Catholic Church

is specifically a member of the major traditional branches within those churches
denominationalist
vsmainliner
9.9

A person who supports one religious group more than others

is a member of large traditional branches rather than showing strong partisan loyalty

Surface Forms

mainliner singular
mainliners plural

Morphology

mainliner = mainline (opaque) = main + line + er

The word is formed with the regular person- or adherent-denoting suffix -er, but the base term mainline is a specialized religious label rather than a fully compositional expression.

Etymology

Mainliner comes from mainline, made of main meaning 'main or central' and 'line', plus '-er' for a person. So a mainliner is someone who belongs to one of the main, long-established Protestant churches.