Definition of "recusant" [re•cu•sant]

• One of the Roman Catholics in England who incurred legal and social penalties in the 16th century and afterward for refusing to attend services of the Church of England. (noun)
• A dissenter; a nonconformist. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Haman being an Amalekite, one of a doomed and accursed race, was, doubtless, another element in the refusal; and on learning that the recusant was a Jew, whose nonconformity was grounded on religious scruples, the magnitude of the affront appeared so much the greater, as the example of Mordecai would be imitated by all his compatriots."
• ""recusant," yet was High Sheriff of his county in 1589."
• "I have often had an interest in the English recusant families, and recently I came across, quite by accident, the Constable family of Everingham who were one of the families that remained Catholic after the English reformation."