Standard Lemma guide

Methodism

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 TH AH0 D IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley in 18th-century England.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of several related movements.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The practice of adhering (often excessively) to methods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the religious beliefs and practices of Methodists characterized by concern with social welfare and public morals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Protestantism

History

Etymology

From method + -ism. Fellow students at the University of Oxford called Wesley and his followers "methodists" because they lived and practiced their faith methodically; Wesley adopted the designation.

From method + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: metodismu — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Basque: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Belarusian: метады́зм (mjetadýzm) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Bulgarian: методизъм (metodizǎm) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Catalan: metodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Chinese Mandarin: 循道宗 (Xúndàozōng) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Chinese Mandarin: 衛理宗 /卫理宗 (Wèilǐzōng) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Czech: metodismus — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Danish: metodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Dutch: methodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Esperanto: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Estonian: metodism — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Finnish: metodismi — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • French: méthodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Galician: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • German: Methodismus — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Greek: μεθοδισμός (methodismós) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Hungarian: metodizmus — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Italian: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Japanese: メソジズム (mesojizumu) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Korean: 감리교 (gamnigyo) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Latvian: metodisms — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Lithuanian: metodi̇̀zmas — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Macedonian: методизам (metodizam) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Norwegian Bokmål: metodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: metodisme — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Polish: metodyzm — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Portuguese: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Romanian: metodism — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Russian: методи́зм (metodízm) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Serbo-Croatian: методизам — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Serbo-Croatian: metodizam — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Slovak: metodizmus — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Slovene: metodizem — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Spanish: metodismo — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Swedish: metodism — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
  • Ukrainian: методи́зм (metodýzm) — Methodist Christian movement founded by John Wesley
Real reading context

Methodism in complete knowledge articles