A
dissenter (from the Latin
dissentire, “to disagree”), is one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of
England and
Wales, and, by extension,
Ireland, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the
Established Church or any other kind of
Protestant who refuses to recognise the supremacy of the Established Church in areas where the established Church is or was
Anglican.