minister
/ˈmɪnɪstə
/noun
1(In certain countries) a head of a government department: the Defence Minister...
- The decision not to send a message of support this year brought private criticism from ministers and backbench MSPs.
- It seems to me that the way modern politics works, the Prime Minister of the day is very reliant on his ministers and backbench for policy support.
- Usually when a minister's backbench committee opposes or has serious concerns about a plan, it triggers a rethink.
Synonyms
member of the government, political leader, cabinet minister, secretary of state, secretary, undersecretary, department head, privy counsellor, politician;
Indian diwan
2 (also minister of religion) A member of the clergy, especially in the Presbyterian and Nonconformist Churches: a minister of the Lutheran church a Unitarian minister...
- First we say that Justice Bleby incorrectly formulated the test for an intention to create legal relations in the context of a church and a minister of religion.
- This is a most refreshing new look at the book of Ecclesiastes, by the minister of Ravesby Presbyterian Church, Sydney.
- Dr. Gentry is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.
Synonyms
clergyman, clergywoman, cleric, ecclesiastic, pastor, vicar, rector, priest, parson, father, man/woman of the cloth, man/woman of God, churchman, churchwoman;
curate, chaplain, curé, divine, evangelist, preacher;
Scottish kirkman
informal reverend, padre, Holy Joe, sky pilot
Australian informal josser
2.1 (also minister general) The superior of some religious orders.The act provided exemptions to men with certain disabilities, ministers of religious orders, theological students, and conscientious objectors.
3A diplomatic agent, usually ranking below an ambassador, representing a state or sovereign in a foreign country.Last week, Baroness Symons, a Foreign Office minister, announced that Ambassador Craig Murray would go back to Tashkent....
- And since this purported sale was between two sovereign governments, the minister of foreign affairs would have to be involved.
- Foreign Office minister Lord Triesman will represent the government at the ceremony in Khao Lak.
Synonyms
ambassador, chargé d'affaires, plenipotentiary, envoy, emissary, legate, diplomat;
consul, delegate, representative, aide, dignitary, official
verb [no object]
1 (minister to) Attend to the needs of (someone): her doctor was busy ministering to the injured...
- There may also be room for optional characters, like a Horse Doctor to minister to Old Ball, or a supernumerary mummer who will be called Patsie.
- I spend a lot of time attending and ministering to others while no one particularly cares about my needs (emotionally or otherwise)
- I can pretty much say that every continent I've heard from, from people that he's ministered to, people that don't know him.
2Act as a minister of religion: will these women be permitted to minister as priests?...
- She introduces the narrator to Jerome Strozzi, an aging priest who ministers to society's throwaways.
- As much as they might complain about some of their parishioners, parish priests ministered at some point to almost every person in France, particularly at key transitional moments in their lives.
- Priests from religious orders and the diocesan priests both ministered in that part of Down.
Synonyms
tend, care for, take care of, look after, nurse, treat, attend to, see to, administer to, help, assist, succour;
cater to, serve, wait on, accommodate, be solicitous of, pander to
informal doctor
2.1 [with object] Administer (a sacrament): bishops in England were faced with a loss of priests to minister the sacraments...
- Will you continue as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, preaching the Gospel of Christ, and ministering his holy sacraments?
- It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God and the custom of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.
- But thirteen years have passed, and Augustine was now responsible for ministering the word and sacraments to his people.
Derivatives
ministership
- One does not understand why the Congress legislators were keen for ministerships if they could not satisfy the people's aspirations.
- Ten per cent of all the ministerships in all the States should be reserved for beggars to improve their standard of living overnight!
- So it is not unlikely that, once she consolidates her chief ministership, she is bound to practise her own personalised style of governance, baring her fangs wherever necessary.
Origin
Middle English (in sense 2 of the noun); also in the sense 'a person acting under the authority of another'): from Old French ministre (noun), ministrer (verb), from Latin minister 'servant', from minus 'less'.