baptists

noun

1. a member of a Christian denomination that baptizes believers by immersion and that is usually Calvinistic in doctrine.
2. (lowercase) a person who baptizes.
3. the Baptist. John the Baptist.

adjective

4. Also Bap·tis·tic. of or relating to Baptists or their doctrines or practices.

noun

1. 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
2. the Baptist See John the Baptist

adjective

3. 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.