minister
Meanings
noun
- A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.
- A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform some act on behalf of the Catholic Church.
- A politician who heads a ministry
- In diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
- A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
verb
- 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.
- To afford, to give, to supply.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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. Doublet of Minorite.
Synonyms
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Translations
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.