DISSENTER, one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. The term, from Lat. dis-sentire, to disagree, is, however, practically restricted to the special sense of a member of a religious body in England which has separated from the Established Church ; and while it has included English Roman Catholics, who in the original draft of the Relief Act of 1791 were styled "Protesting Catholic Dissenters," it is in practice restricted to the "Protestant Dissenters" referred to in sec. ii. of the Tolera tion Act of 1688. The term is not applied to those bodies who dissent from the Established Church of Scotland ; and in speak ing of members of religious bodies which have seceded from estab lished churches abroad it is usual to employ the term "dissidents" (Lat. dissidere, to dissent). In this connotation the terms "dis senter" and "dissenting," which had acquired a somewhat con temptuous flavour, have tended since the middle of the 19th cen tury to be replaced by "nonconformist," a term which did not originally imply secession, but only refusal to conform in certain particulars (e.g., the wearing of the surplice) with the authorized usages of the Established Church. Still more recently the term "nonconformist" has in its turn, as the political attack on the principle of a State establishment of religion developed, tended to give place to the style of "Free Churches" and "Free Churchman." All three terms are now in use. (See BAPTIST. ; CONGREGATION ALISM ; METHODISM, etc.)