Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Protestant Church

Protestant Church

4 2.7
Churches that split from the Catholic Church and follow Christian teachings different from Catholic ones
  • noun
translation icon : Iglesia protestante
  • The protest led to the formation of Protestant churches—a new branch of Christianity.
  • Catholic and Protestant Church
  • German Protestant Church
  • mainline Protestant churches

Examples

  • Before we become too judgmental, however, we may ask what Protestant churches have done any better.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The Protestant Church has a strong emphasis on individual interpretation of the Bible.

  • We bought it from the Protestant Church of England.

    Witchcraft 8: Salem's Ghost (1996)

  • Is the Church of England not a Protestant church?

    Cromwell (1970)

  • I'm from the Protestant Church of England.

    Witchcraft 8: Salem's Ghost (1996)

  • Folks work hard, go to Protestant churches, and earn what they have.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I would emerge in the backyard of the Protestant church and wait for the school bus with the other children.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The more conservative Protestant churches are, by contrast, robust and growing.

    Academic text (1998)

  • There is a tradition of prayer for unity and peace in Catholic and various Protestant churches.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Protestant churches are in different places on the difficult journey toward reconciliation and visible unity.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

Protestant
vsProtestant Church
15 4.0

The group of Christian churches that broke away from the Catholic Church

is the collective defined by splitting from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation
Protestantism
vsProtestant Church
8 5.5

A branch of Christianity made of churches that split from the Catholic Church in the 1500s

is the collective body that separated from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation

Surface Forms

Protestant Church singular
Protestant Churches plural

Morphology

Protestant + church

The meaning is a direct composition of 'Protestant' (a branch of Christianity) modifying 'church' (a Christian body), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to churches belonging to Protestantism. This modifier–head pattern is regular and cross‑linguistically common, making the phrase immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The name Protestant Church comes from groups that openly protested the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s. Because they 'protested' the church's rules, they were called 'Protestants', and their churches became the Protestant Church, meaning churches started by people who disagreed with the Catholic Church.