Library / English Dictionary

MINISTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The job of a head of a government department

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("minister" is a kind of...):

public service (employment within a government system (especially in the civil service))

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minister"):

cabinet minister (the job of a senior minister who is a member of the cabinet)

Derivation:

ministerial (of or relating to a government minister or ministry)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person authorized to conduct religious worship

Example:

clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches

Synonyms:

curate; minister; minister of religion; parson; pastor; rector

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("minister" is a kind of...):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minister"):

ministrant (someone who serves as a minister)

Derivation:

minister (work as a minister)

ministerial (of or relating to a minister of religion or the minister's office)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A diplomat representing one government to another; ranks below ambassador

Synonyms:

diplomatic minister; minister

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("minister" is a kind of...):

diplomat; diplomatist (an official engaged in international negotiations)

Derivation:

ministerial (of or relating to a government minister or ministry)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person appointed to a high office in the government

Example:

Minister of Finance

Synonyms:

government minister; minister

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("minister" is a kind of...):

executive; executive director (a person responsible for the administration of a business)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "minister"):

cabinet minister (a person who is a member of the cabinet)

finance minister; minister of finance (the minister responsible for state finances)

foreign minister; secretary of state (a government minister for foreign relations)

Instance hyponyms:

Haman ((Old Testament) the minister of the Persian emperor who hated the Jews and was hanged for plotting to massacre them)

Ahmed Zoki Yamani; Yamani (Saudi Arabian minister of petroleum who was a central figure in the creation of OPEC (born in 1930))

Derivation:

ministerial (of or relating to a government minister or ministry)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work as a minister

Example:

She is ministering in an old parish

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "minister" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

minister (a person authorized to conduct religious worship)

ministrant (someone who serves as a minister)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attend to the wants and needs of others

Example:

I have to minister to my mother all the time

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "minister" is one way to...):

attend; look; see; take care (take charge of or deal with)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s to somebody

Derivation:

ministrant (giving practical help to)

ministration (assistance in time of difficulty)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very existence would defame Him.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She will be rejoiced, Copperfield, to renew her acquaintance with one who has proved himself in all respects a worthy minister at the sacred altar of friendship.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I, who preached contentment with a humble lot, and justified the vocation even of hewers of wood and drawers of water in God's service—I, His ordained minister, almost rave in my restlessness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the cabinet minister and future premier of England.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is always a joy to meet an American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was our good vicar, Mr. Jefferson, who loved the whole world save only Mr. Slack, the Baptist minister of Clayton; and there was kindly Mr. Slack, who was all men’s brother save only of Mr. Jefferson, the vicar of Friar’s Oak.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister the other; sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But here also the ministers of justice were waiting.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And I call on you, spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In some way the magnificent offers certain magazines had made him leaked out, and Oakland ministers called upon him in a friendly way, while professional begging letters began to clutter his mail.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)