minister

Etymology

From Middle English ministre, from Old French ministre, from Latin minister (“an attendant, servant, assistant, a priest's assistant or other under official”), from minor (“less”) + -ter; see minor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪnɪstə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪnɨstɚ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

minister (plural ministers)

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

   The minister said a prayer on behalf of the entire congregation.

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

   He was newly appointed to be Minister of the Interior.

   • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

     Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man.

3. At a diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
4. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
   • Bible, Exodus xxiv. 13

     Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua.

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     I chose / Camillo for the minister, to poison / My friend Polixenes.

Verb

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

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

   A newspaper headline: Couple leaves business world to minister to inner-city children

2. to function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship
3. (transitive, archaic) To afford, to give, to supply.
   • Bible, 2 Corinthians ix. 10

     He that ministereth seed to the sower.

   • Jeremy Taylor

     We minister to God reason to suspect us.

   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 1

     I do well believe your highness; and did it to / minister occasion to these gentlemen [...] (to give opportunity to these gentlemen)

See also

• cleric
• father
• parson
• pastor
• priest
• vicar

Further reading

• minister in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• minister in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• Tenriism, Terminis, interims, ministre, smirnite

Noun

minister c (definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministre, definite plural ministrene)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/

Noun

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

1. A minister, a person who is commissioned by the government for public service.

Noun

minister

1. minister (politician)

Noun

minister m (plural ministeres)

1. minister
2. ministry

Etymology

From minus + comparative suffix *-tero-. Compare magister.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /miˈnis.ter/, [mɪˈnɪs.tɛr]

Noun

minister m (genitive ministrī); second declension

1. attendant, servant, waiter
2. agent, aide
3. accomplice

References

• minister in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• minister in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Noun

minister m (definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministere or ministre or ministrer, definite plural ministerne or ministrene)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

References

• “minister” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Noun

minister m (definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministrar, definite plural ministrane)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

References

• “minister” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From French ministère.

Noun

minister n (plural ministere)

1. ministry

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

minister c

1. a minister (member of government, cabinet)
2. a minister (in the foreign affairs administration)