evangelist

noun

evan·​ge·​list i-ˈvan-jə-list 

1

often capitalized : a writer of any of the four Gospels

2

: a person who evangelizes

specifically : a Protestant minister or layman who preaches at special services

3

: an enthusiastic advocate

an evangelist for physical fitness

Examples of evangelist in a Sentence

an evangelist of space exploration

Recent Examples on the Web

Look at it this way: Woody Guthrie, singer-songwriter, auteur, prickly, difficult man, salt of the earth; Pete Seeger, more of an evangelist operator, expert communicator, who was lifting Woody’s work and all the others. —Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 23 Dec. 2024

These young evangelists were looking for people who would listen to them share the Good News of Jesus. —Nick Hall, Fox News, 16 Dec. 2024

Her last documentary was the 2010 work Shadows in the House, about a female evangelist and social worker based in poor part of São Paulo. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024

But few patients had shown up Friday at the hospital set up in a large, white tent by Samaritan's Purse, an aid organization founded by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, near the remote mountain towns of Newland and Linville, some 140 miles west of Greensboro. —Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

evangelist

noun

evan·​ge·​list i-ˈvan-jə-ləst 

: a Christian preacher who goes about from place to place trying to change or increase people's religious feelings

Etymology

Middle English evangelist "one of the writers of the four Gospels," from early French and Latin evangelista (same meaning), from Greek euangelizein "to preach the gospel," from euangelion "good news, gospel," from eu- "good" and angelos "messenger, angel"