Meaning & use
evangelical
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounreligion
Belonging to a Protestant Christian tradition that stresses a personal decision to follow Christ, the Bible as final authority, and sharing the faith with others.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: an evangelical church, but not 'the church is evangelical' in most uses.
Patterns
- an evangelical church
- evangelical Christians
Her grandparents attended an evangelical church where the sermons centered on Scripture.
Evangelical Christians in the town organized a food drive every winter.
He grew up in an evangelical household and was baptized as a teenager.
adjectivecomparablefigurative
Showing the eager, almost missionary zeal of someone who wants to convince everyone else that a cause or product is right.
Grammar: Can follow a verb or come before a noun: she was evangelical about cycling; an evangelical tone.
Patterns
- evangelical about something
- evangelical in tone
My brother is evangelical about his new standing desk and keeps urging us all to try one.
The founder spoke with evangelical passion about recycling.
Her evangelical enthusiasm for sourdough made the whole office start baking.
Common combinations
- evangelical church
- The evangelical church on the corner runs a popular youth club.
- evangelical Christian
- An evangelical Christian, she read the Bible every morning.
- evangelical fervor
- He praised the new software with evangelical fervor.
- evangelical zeal
- She pursued recycling with evangelical zeal.
- evangelical movement
- The evangelical movement grew quickly in the nineteenth century.
Synonyms and how they differ
- zealous
- Zealous describes strong eagerness in general, while evangelical adds the picture of someone trying to convert others.
- missionary
- Missionary suggests actual organized outreach, whereas evangelical in its figurative sense is only an attitude of preaching.
- crusading
- Crusading stresses fighting for a cause, often against opposition, rather than spreading enthusiasm to win people over.
- fervent
- Fervent means passionate and sincere but does not imply trying to persuade others the way evangelical does.
Opposites
Word family
- evangelism noun
- the practice of spreading a faith or idea
- evangelist noun
- a person who preaches or promotes a belief
- evangelize verb
- to try to convert people
- evangelicalism noun
- the evangelical Christian movement
Commonly confused: evangelical or evangelistic?
evangelical vs evangelistic
Evangelistic describes activity aimed at converting people, while evangelical names the tradition or a general attitude of zeal.
Practice
Which sentence uses evangelical in its non-religious, figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Option B shows eager promotion of a hobby. The other options all refer to the Christian tradition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evangelical”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.