missionary
Americannoun
-
a person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism or other activities, as educational or hospital work.
There are opportunities for student missionaries living abroad to work with people in need of aid, participate in building projects, and share the Gospel.
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a person strongly in favor of a program, set of principles, etc., who attempts to persuade or convert others.
-
a person who is sent on a mission.
adjective
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pertaining to or connected with religious missions.
-
engaged in such a mission or devoted to work connected with missions.
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reflecting or prompted by the desire to persuade or convert others.
the missionary efforts of political fanatics.
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characteristic of a missionary.
missionary zeal.
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relating to or noting the missionary position.
Then it was up to the bedroom for some good, old-fashioned missionary sex.
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to missionaries
missionary work
-
resulting from a desire to convert people to one's own beliefs
missionary zeal
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of missionary
First recorded in 1625–35; from New Latin missiōnārius; see mission, -ary
Explanation
A missionary is someone who travels to a foreign country to perform charitable work and, most commonly, to try to convert people to their faith. Missionary can be a noun — the person who goes on a mission — or an adjective — the type of work done on such a trip. If your great-grandmother was a missionary for the Methodist church in Japan in the 1920s, her purpose there was to convince people to abandon their religion for Methodism. Presumably she did this missionary work because she thought it would save their souls.
Vocabulary lists containing missionary
Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Human Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Huckabee grew up in poverty in a small Arkansas town, where he attended a Missionary Baptist church.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
Holly Berkley Fletcher, the author of the upcoming book "The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism," explained this in her Monday newsletter.
From Salon • Jun. 4, 2025
Roger Fortson’s service is scheduled to be held at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of Stonecrest.
From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024
"The only people who can defect now are the rich and well-connected," added Pastor Stephen Kim from JM Missionary, who helps North Koreans defect through China.
From BBC • Dec. 5, 2023
A day earlier, Reggie had been sitting in a classroom in Provo at the Missionary Training Center.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
