MINISTER

minister

(noun) the job of a head of a government department

curate, minister of religion, minister, parson, pastor, rector

(noun) a person authorized to conduct religious worship; “clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches”

minister, diplomatic minister

(noun) a diplomat representing one government to another; ranks below ambassador

minister, government minister

(noun) a person appointed to a high office in the government; “Minister of Finance”

minister

(verb) work as a minister; “She is ministering in an old parish”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

minister (plural ministers)

A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.

A politician who heads a ministry (national or regional government department for public service).

At a diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.

A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with minster.

Hypernyms

• (Chief minister in areas of Central Europe and Scandinavia): provost

Verb

minister (third-person singular simple present ministers, present participle ministering, simple past and past participle ministered)

(transitive) To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.

to function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship

(transitive, archaic) To afford, to give, to supply.

Anagrams

• Tenriism, Terminis, interims, ministre, smirnite

Source: Wiktionary

Min"is*ter, n. Etym: [OE. ministre, F. ministre, fr. L. minister, orig. a double comparative from the root of minor less, and hence meaning, an inferior, a servant. See 1st Minor, and cf. Master, Minstrel.]

1. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument. Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. Ex. xxiv. 13. I chose Camillo for the minister, to poison My friend Polixenes. Shak.

2. An officer of justice. [Obs.] I cry out the on the ministres, quod he, That shoulde keep and rule this cité. Chaucer.

3. One to whom the sovereign or executive head of a government intrusts the management of affairs of state, or some department of such affairs. Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man. Bacon.

4. A representative of a government, sent to the court, or seat of government, of a foreign nation to transact diplomatic business.

Note: Ambassadors are classed (in the diplomatic sense) in the first rank of public ministers, ministers plenipotentiary in the second. "The United States diplomatic service employs two classes of ministers, -- ministers plenipotentiary and ministers resident." Abbott.

5. One who serves at the altar; one who performs sacerdotal duties; the pastor of a church duly authorized or licensed to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. Addison.

Syn.

– Delegate; official; ambassador; clergyman; parson; priest.

Min"is*ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ministered; p. pr. & vb. n. Ministering.] Etym: [OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr. L. ministrare. See Minister, n.]

Definition: To furnish or apply; to afford; to supply; to administer. He that ministereth seed to the sower. 2 Cor. ix. 10. We minister to God reason to suspect us. Jer. Taylor.

Min"is*ter, v. i.

1. To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular. The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Matt. xx. 28.

2. To supply or to things needful; esp., to supply consolation or remedies. Matt. xxv. 44. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition