lutheran

lutheran — adjective

IPA/ˈluː.θər.ən/
KK[lˈuθɚən]IPA/ˈluː.θɚ.ən/
  • lutheranpositive
  • more lutherancomparative
  • most lutheransuperlative

1. relating to a Protestant Christian church whose beliefs and practices come from

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

relating to a Protestant Christian church whose beliefs and practices come from the teachings of Martin Luther, the German religious reformer of the 1500s.

Example

Yael's family attends a Lutheran church near their home in Stockholm.

used before noun: Lutheran + church

The small town has a Lutheran school that was built in the 1920s.

used before noun: Lutheran + school

Common collocations
  • Lutheran church
  • Lutheran congregation
  • Lutheran school
  • Lutheran tradition
  • Lutheran service
  • Lutheran theology

Grammar Patterns

Lutheran + noun

be + Lutheran

Usage Note

Always capitalised because it is a proper adjective derived from a personal name. Commonly combines with nouns such as church, congregation, school, or tradition.

Common Mistakes

She goes to a lutheran church.
She goes to a Lutheran church.
Lutheran is a proper adjective and must always start with a capital L.

lutheran — noun

IPA/ˈluːθərən/
KK[lˈuθɚən]IPA/ˈluːθərən/

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A Lutheran is a specific type of Protestant Christian who follows the teachings of Martin Luther. Protestant is a much broader term covering all Christian denominations that separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation — it includes Lutherans, but also Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and many others. Christian is the broadest of the three, referring to anyone who follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. So while every Lutheran is a Protestant and every Protestant is a Christian, the reverse is not true: not all Christians are Protestants, and not all Protestants are Lutherans. For example, a Catholic is a Christian but not a Protestant, and a Baptist is a Protestant but not a Lutheran.

Lutheran ↗Protestant ↗Christian ↗

Etymology

GermanEnglish

Named after Martin Luther (1483–1546), the German theologian who started the Protestant Reformation. The word Lutheran was first used as a label by Luther's opponents in the early 1500s, and later adopted by his followers as a neutral identifier of their church tradition.