Search

a member of a christian denomination that baptizes believers by immersion and that is usually calvinistic in doctrine.
(lowercase) a person who baptizes.
the baptist, john the baptist.
also, baptistic. of or relating to baptists or their doctrines or practices.
contemporary examples

there were no nightclubs, thanks to the baptists, and there was scant affluence to create boating and nights at fancy restaurants.
the great paul hemphill celebrates the long gone birmingham barons paul hemphill march 28, 2014

but even more mysterious was the fact that the arsonists were two local boys, raised as baptists, who had met in sunday school.
this week’s best reads the daily beast april 22, 2011

they attempted to create a movie that would please everybody, from catholics to baptists, from pentecostals to presbyterians.
‘son of g-d’: why are jesus movies always lame? matthew paul turner march 1, 2014

but as you write in the novel, baptists excommunicated deborah for dressing as a man.
the cross-dressing revolutionary: alex myers’ new novel eric herschthal february 3, 2014

and the baptists then were not like the ones now: they were radicals, they were egalitarians; they were edgy.
the cross-dressing revolutionary: alex myers’ new novel eric herschthal february 3, 2014

historical examples

the disciples are just as evidently an offshoot from the baptists, as children are an offshoot from the parental stock.
personal recollections of pardee butler pardee butler

but the active labor in this cause was mainly done by the baptists.
a history of american christianity leonard woolsey bacon

we shall be in the brahmin caste of the h-ll of the baptists.
the book of the d-mned charles fort

then there were a number of baptists, who also now dwelt in peace, under the king’s protection.
dulcibel henry peterson

of religious sects, the most active were the friends, the baptists, and the independents.
sketches of reforms and reformers, of great britain and ireland henry b. stanton

noun
a member of any of various christian sects that affirm the necessity of baptism (usually of adults and by immersion) following a personal profession of the christian faith
the baptist, see john the baptist
adjective
denoting, relating to, or characteristic of any christian sect that affirms the necessity of baptism following a personal profession of the christian faith
n.

c.1200, “one who baptizes;” see baptize + -ist. as “member of a protestant sect that believes in adult baptism by immersion” (with capital b-), attested from 1654; their opponents called them anabaptists.

a group of christian communities marked chiefly by insistence on adult baptism by immersion. baptists regard baptism as a ceremony that accompanies and seals a conscious profession of faith in jesus; for this reason, they do not baptize infants but wait until candidates have reached their teen or adult years. the baptists are the largest protestant denomination in the united states and are particularly insistent on the separation of church and state.