ministry
[min-uh-stree]
- 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.
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Origin of ministry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
department, bureau, exhortation, preaching, prayer, clergy, priesthood, prelacy, clergymen, vicarage, clericalsExamples from the Web for ministries
Contemporary Examples
Obama also said, “I love the ministries that are taking place here at Saddleback.”
They were the bureaucracy—they had run the ministries, the universities.
That means that the kind of ministries we take on are flexible depending on the needs of society.
The need to balance so many competing demands left no ministries for Kadima; it was deemed unnecessary.
This does not include funding for ministries and rabbinic offices they've controlled.
Historical Examples
It would not have done to have had any strife between the two ministries.
Rene MauperinEdmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt
They are in advance of Parliament and Ministries on this subject.
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 MinisterAnthony Trollope
He asserted his power most often in ministries of retribution.
The Expositor's BibleF. W. Farrar
ministry
- 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
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Word Origin
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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper