evangelical

/iːvænˈd͡ʒɛlɪkəl/

Etymology

From evangelic + -al, from Old French evangelique, from Latin evangelium, from Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news”).

evangelical means Pertaining to the doctrines or teachings of the Christian gospel or Christianity in general. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 61 out of 100.

Why this word is great

EVANGELICAL — [Adjective] Pertaining to a Protestant Christian tradition emphasizing the authority of the Bible, the necessity of personal conversion, and the imperative of preaching the gospel. From Latin evangelium ("gospel, good news"), from Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, "good news"), from εὖ (eu, "good") and ἀγγελία (angelía, "message, news"), an etymology that carries the ancient herald's cry of a victory that changes everything. Unlike "fundamentalist" (which often retreats into a fortress of separatist doctrine) or "ecumenical" (which seeks broad unity through compromise), evangelicalism is propelled outward by a conviction too urgent to keep private. It is the tremor in a revival tent preacher's voice, the precisely folded tract left in a diner booth, the earnest, sustained eye contact of a stranger asking if you've been saved—a faith measured not by its boundaries but by its boundless propagation, forever mid-conversation, translating a private certainty into a restless, public love.

adj

Pertaining to the doctrines or teachings of the Christian gospel or Christianity in general.
Pertaining to the gospel(s) of the Christian New Testament.
Protestant; specifically Lutheran and Calvinist churches in continental Europe as well as their offshoots in North America.
Pertaining to a movement in Protestant Christianity that stresses personal conversion and the authority of the Bible (evangelicalism).““They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations,” writes Kurt Eichenwald of evangelical Christians.”
Pertaining to Islamic groups that are dedicated to dawah and preaching the Quran and sunnah.“When the mosque came under the influence of an evangelical Muslim group (Jamaati Tableegh), the formerly congenial situation changed noticeably.”
Zealously enthusiastic.

noun

A member of an evangelical church.“Furthermore, what would otherwise be good points about the sort of selective literalism that renders homosexuality an unpardonable sin but shrugs off Sarah Palin’s biblically forbidden pearl earrings are lost in Eichenwald’s assumption that evangelicals make these decisions “with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch.””
An advocate of evangelicalism.