'anti-Covenanter' is a compound formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against') + 'Covenanter' (a person associated with a 'covenant').

'Covenanter' derives from 'covenant' (Middle English/Anglo-French 'covenaunt') with the agent suffix '-er' in Early Modern English to denote a signatory or adherent; 'anti-' was attached in the 17th century to mark opponents, producing the compound 'anti-Covenanter'.

Originally used specifically for opponents of the 17th-century Scottish Covenanter movement; the term remains primarily historical and retains the sense 'against the Covenanters'.