[bap-tist] 
| 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. |
| 4. | Also, Bap⋅tis⋅tic. of or pertaining to Baptists or their doctrines or practices. |
| Bap·tist (bāp'tĭst) n.
[Middle English, baptizer, from Old French baptiste, from Late Latin baptista, from Greek baptistēs, from baptizein, to baptize; see baptize.] Bap'tist adj. |
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.
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