a member of any of various Protestant sects, formed in Europe after 1520, that denied the validity of infant baptism, baptized believers only, and advocated social and economic reforms as well as the complete separation of church and state.
a member of any of various 16th-century Protestant movements that rejected infant baptism, insisted that adults be rebaptized, and sought to establish Christian communism
2.
a member of a later Protestant sect holding the same doctrines, esp with regard to baptism
—adj
3.
of or relating to these movements or sects or their doctrines
[C16: from Ecclesiastical Latin anabaptista, from anabaptīzāre to baptize again, from Late Greek anabaptizein; see ana-, baptize]