minister Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person authorized to conduct religious worship
    curate; pastor; rector; minister of religion; parson.
    • clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches
  2. noun a person appointed to a high office in the government
    government minister.
    • Minister of Finance
  3. noun a diplomat representing one government to another; ranks below ambassador
    diplomatic minister.
  4. noun the job of a head of a government department
  5. verb attend to the wants and needs of others
    • I have to minister to my mother all the time
  6. verb work as a minister
    • She is ministering in an old parish

WordNet

Min"is*ter noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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. ✍ 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 transitive verb
Etymology
OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr. L. ministrare. See Minister, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Ministered ; present participle & verbal noun Ministering
Definitions
  1. 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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913