noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An early Christian belief which maintained that apostate priests were incapable of administering the sacraments, as opposed to the orthodox view that any sacrament administered by a properly ordained priest or bishop is valid, regardless of how sinful he is or if he has converted to another religion. uncountable
2. 2
   a schismatic Christian religion in northern Africa from the 4th to the 7th century; held that only those who led a blameless life belonged in the church or could administer the sacraments wordnet

Etymology

Eponym, Donatus Magnus + -ism

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.