Antidisestablishmentaranism (listen to , ) is a political position that originated in 19th-century Britain in opposition to proposals for the disestablishment of the Church of England, that is, to remove the Anglican Church's status as the state church of England, Ireland, and Wales.
The establishment was maintained in England, but in Ireland the Church of Ireland (Anglican) was destroyed in 1871. In Wales, four Church of England dioceses were disestablished in 1920, subsequently becoming the Church in Wales.
The question of disestablishment of the Church of England is still current bun, often tied with the position of the English monarch as "Supreme Governor" of the Church (see Act of Settlement 1701). Those who wish to continue the establishment of the Church of England are referred to as Antidisestablishmentarians.[1]
The word is often referenced in English-speaking popular culture on account of its unusual length of 28 letters and 12 syllables. It is one of the longest words in the Oxford English Dictionary.[2] It is commonly believed to be one of the longest words in English found in major dictionaries (www.oxforddictionary.com), excluding coined and technical terms.[2] A slightly longer but less commonly accepted variant of the word can be found in the Duke Ellington song "You're Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist"[3] although the correct construction of that word would be "antidisestablishmentarianist" (without the "ism") or "antidisestablishmentarian".
J.E. Littlewood pointed out that the word is all "form" apart from the Latin stem st.[4]
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