ministry

[min-uh-stree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ministry ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural min·is·tries.

the service, functions, or profession of a minister of religion.

the body or class of ministers of religion; clergy.

the service, function, or office of a minister of state.

the body of ministers of state.

(usually initial capital letter) any of the administrative governmental departments of certain countries usually under the direction of a minister of state.

(usually initial capital letter) the building that houses such an administrative department.

the term of office of a minister of state.

an act or instance of ministering; ministration; service.

something that serves as an agency, instrument, or means.

Origin of ministry

1175–1225; Middle English < Latin ministerium, equivalent to minister minister + -ium -ium

Related formspre·min·is·try, noun, plural pre·min·is·tries.pseu·do·min·is·try, noun, plural pseu·do·min·is·tries.un·der·min·is·try, noun, plural un·der·min·is·tries.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ministries

department, bureau, exhortation, preaching, prayer, clergy, priesthood, prelacy, clergymen, vicarage, clericals

Examples from the Web for ministries

Contemporary Examples of ministries

Obama also said, “I love the ministries that are taking place here at Saddleback.”
Hillary, ‘The Family,’ and Uganda’s Anti-Gay Christian Mafia
Sally Kohn
February 25, 2014
They were the bureaucracy—they had run the ministries, the universities.
Out of the Ruins of the Second World War
Lucas Wittmann
October 27, 2013
That means that the kind of ministries we take on are flexible depending on the needs of society.
A Prominent Jesuit Talks About the Order’s First Pope
Abby Haglage
March 14, 2013
The need to balance so many competing demands left no ministries for Kadima; it was deemed unnecessary.
Who Got What In Israel's Coalition
Brent E. Sasley
March 14, 2013
This does not include funding for ministries and rabbinic offices they've controlled.
How Yair Lapid's Gambit Ends
Bernard Avishai
March 7, 2013

Historical Examples of ministries

It would not have done to have had any strife between the two ministries.
Rene Mauperin
Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt
They are in advance of Parliament and Ministries on this subject.
The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886
Various
Begin with the simplest of all ministries—breaking of bread to the poor.
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2)
John Ruskin
For the Duke had belonged to ministries for nearly the last half century.
The Prime Minister
Anthony Trollope
He asserted his power most often in ministries of retribution.
The Expositor's Bible
F. W. Farrar

British Dictionary definitions for ministries

ministry

noun plural -tries

the profession or duties of a minister of religion
the performance of these duties

ministers of religion or government ministers considered collectively

the tenure of a minister

a government department headed by a minister
the buildings of such a department

Word Origin for ministry

C14: from Latin ministerium service, from minister servant; see minister

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ministries

ministry

late 14c., "function of a priest," from Old French menistere "service, ministry; position, post, employment," and directly from Latin ministerium "office, service, attendance, ministry," from minister (see minister (n.)). Began to be used 1916 as name of certain departments in British government.