sb. and a. [Partly, in theol. use, f. mod.L. unitari-us (1656: f. L. ūnitās UNITY) + -AN, partly f. UNIT-Y sb. + -arian. So F. unitarien a. and sb. Cf. UNITARY a.]
A. sb. 1. Theol. One who affirms the unipersonality of the Godhead, especially as opposed to an orthodox Trinitarian; spec. a member or adherent of a Christian religious body or sect holding this doctrine.
Usually with initial capital.
1687. [? S. Nye], Brief Hist. Unitarians, 109. The Polonian Unitarians were … zealous…, the Unitarians of Transylvania were more moderate. Ibid., 117. The Unitarians, vulgarly called Socinians.
1697. Stillingfl., Disc. Trinity, 22. Our Vnitarians own the Ebionites as their Predecessors.
1705. T. Emlyn, Vind. Worship Christ, 1/1, in Coll. Tracts (1730), I. 51. Mr. B[oyle] flatters himself upon this head, as tho he had quite baffled the Cause of the Unitarians.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 8. Eusebius [had] prejudice against the unitarians of his own time.
1787. Hawkins, Life Johnson (ed. 2), 233. In his religious principles he [Dr. E. Barker] professed himself an unitarian.
1813. J. Adams, Wks. (1856), X. 50. The dissenters of all denominations in England, and, especially, the Unitarians, are cowed.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III. 279. The Unitarians, the religious body with which I am best acquainted.
1889. Ch. Q. Rev., April, 35. We may roughly state these three conceptions [of Christianity] as (1) the Unitarian, which conceives of Christ as an exalted human teacher merely; (2) the Protestant,… (3) the Catholic.
b. In wider use, as applied to any non-Christian monotheist, esp. a Mohammedan.
1708. Ockley, Saracens, 227. Abu Obeidah sent Abdo’llah Ebn Kort with an Express to Omar … begging his Prayers and some fresh Recruits of Vnitarians (a Title they glory in, reckoning themselves the only Asserters of the Unity of the Deity).
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., lix. VI. 105. His preachers … called aloud on the unitarians, manfully to stand up against the Christian idolaters.
1819. W. J. Fox, Lect., iv. Wks. 1865, I. 211. Five different classes of Unitarians, who are out of the pale of Christianity.
1909. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, viii. 249. The real Unitarians who with scimitar in hand have laid waste the world.
2. One who believes in or favors some theory or system based upon unity: a. Philos. (See quot. and MONIST). rare.
1836–7. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xvi. (1859), I. 295. The Realists or Substantialists are again divided into Dualists, and into Unitarians or Monists, according as they are, or are not, contented with the testimony of consciousness to the ultimate duplicity of subject and object in perception.
b. In miscellaneous uses.
1847. Emerson, Poems, Blight, 27. The old men studied magic in the flower … And an omnipotence in chemistry, Preferring things to names, for these were men, Were unitarians of the united world.
1865. Mansfield, Salts, 254. A compound, which even by the unitarians, must be called a double salt.
1904. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 10 Sept., 572. In this toxin-antitoxin discussion there has been a tendency to ascribe to us the position of ‘unitarians’ in contradistinction to the ‘pluralists.’
c. An advocate of national or political unity; one who supports the union of several states into one confederation under a central government.
1862. Times, 9 April. Garibaldi … said all great Italians had been unitarians.
1865. Cornh. Mag., Aug., 249. As a unitarian and partisan of centralization he hurled anathemas at all autonomous cities and provinces.
1882–3. in Schaff’s Encycl. Relig. Knowl., III. 2422/2. There is also a political party in Buenos Ayres … devoted to centralization in government, called Unitarians.
B. adj. 1. Theol. Of or pertaining to, connected with, the Unitarians or their doctrines; of the nature of, characteristic of, Unitarianism.
1687. [? S. Nye], Brief Hist. Unitarians, 36. The Unitarian Doctrine has been reduced so low by the Persecutions of Rome [etc.].
1691. W. Nicholls, Answ. Naked Gospel, 101. Whilst Faustus kept close in Italy, the Unitarian Cause was carried on by others.
1705. T. Emlyn, in Coll. Tracts (1730), I. 49 (title), A Vindication of the Worship of the Lord Jesus Christ on Unitarian Principles.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 8. What could this be but the proper unitarian doctrine?
1819. M. Stuart, Lett. to W. E. Channing, 144. The younger preachers of Unitarian sentiments.
1834. Longf., in Life (1891), I. v. 52. Our little Unitarian Society at Bowdoin.
1889. Ch. Q. Rev., April, 35. The Unitarian conception of our Lord’s Person and Office.
b. Of persons: Accepting, professing, or advocating the doctrines of Unitarianism; belonging to a religious body or sect of Unitarians.
1691. W. Nicholls, Answ. Naked Gospel, 96. The most remarkable of this sort of Unitarian Hereticks.
1765[?]. [W. Hopkins], Attempt (title-p.), A Friendly Dialogue between a common Unitarian Christian and an Athanasian.
1793. Kippis, Biog. Brit. (ed. 2), V. 506. Dr. Bennet … laid himself open to the strictures both of Trinitarian and Unitarian Divines.
1815. W. J. Fox, Serm., 38. The general character of Unitarian professors and converts.
1876. Fox Bourne, Locke, II. xii. 240. Thomas Firmin … the excellent unitarian merchant.
c. In wider use (see A. 1 b).
1780. Wesley, Hymn, ‘Sun of unclouded righteousness,’ iii. Stretch out thy arm, thou triune God, The Unitarian fiend expel, And chase his doctrine back to hell.
2. Of or pertaining to, involving, based or founded upon, characterized by, unity (in various senses); unitary: a. Philos. Monistic. rare.
1836–7. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xxiii. (1859), II. 78. He would … be forced to admit one or other of the unitarian conclusions of materialism or idealism.
b. Of systems, theories, etc.
1845. Lowell, Lett. (1894), I. 102. My system is fully as unitarian as your own.
1875. Encycl. Brit., I. 460/2. These two theories, the one dualistic, the other unitarian, strangely foreshadow the discoveries of modern dynamics.
1893. 19th Cent., Aug., 249. Under the unitarian system we no longer divide the molecule.
c. Advocating, promoting, or directed towards national unity, union, or centralization in government or administration.
1865. Morn. Star, 10 Feb. The King of Unitarian Italy.
1877. Academy, 10 Nov., 1/1. The unitarian movement of twenty years later differed … from the revolution which enthroned the triumvirate at Rome.
