minister

/ˈmɪn.ɪs.tə//ˈmɪn.əˌstɚ/

minister noun: a person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.

Noun

minister (plural ministers)

A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.
- The minister said a prayer on behalf of the entire congregation.
A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform some act on behalf of the Catholic Church.
A politician who heads a ministry
- He was newly appointed to be Minister of the Interior.
- Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man.1661 (first printed), Francis Bacon, A Letter of Advice to the Duke of Buckingham
Synonyms:

government minister
In diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
- […], I choſe / Camillo for the miniſter, to poyſon / My friend Polixenes: […]c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- And Moſes roſe vp, and his miniſter Ioſhua: and Moſes went vp into the mount of God.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 24:13, column 1

Verb

minister (third-person singular simple present ministers, present participle ministering, simple past and past participle ministered)

(intransitive) To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.
(intransitive) To function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship.
(archaic, transitive) To afford, to give, to supply.
- I do vvell beleeue your Highneſſe, and did it to miniſter occaſion to theſe Gentlemen, […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- ([…] Now he that miniſtreth ſeede to the ſower, both miniſter bread for your foode, and multiply your ſeede ſowen, and encreaſe the fruites of your righteouſneſſe)1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 9:10, column 2

minister meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

minister in Hindi

person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church: पादरी pādrī, काहिन kāhin, याजक yājak
politician who heads a ministry: वज़ीर vazīr, मंत्री mantrī

minister in Tamil

politician who heads a ministry: அமைச்சர் amaiccar, மந்திரி mantiri

minister in Marathi

politician who heads a ministry: मंत्री mantrī

minister in Urdu

person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church: خادِمِ دِین xādim-i dīn, پادْری pādrī, کاہِن kāhin
politician who heads a ministry: وَزِیر vazīr

More languagesFewer languages

minister in Bengali: মন্ত্রী montri, উজির ujir
minister in Telugu: మంత్రి mantri
minister in Malayalam: മന്ത്രി mantri
minister in Kannada: ಮಂತ್ರಿ mantri
minister in Punjabi: ਮੰਤਰੀ mantrī, ਵਜ਼ੀਰ vazīr
minister in Gujarati: મંત્રી mantrī
minister in Odia: ମନ୍ତ୍ରୀ mantri
minister in Sanskrit: मन्त्रि mantri, मन्त्रिन् mantrin
minister in Assamese: মন্ত্ৰী montri, উজীৰ uzir, মিনিষ্টাৰ ministar
minister in Nepali: मन्त्री mantrī
minister in Pashto: پادري pādri, کاهن kāhǝn, کشیش kašiš, وزير wazīr
minister in Tagalog: kataluna, ministro
minister in Arabic: قِسِّيس qissīs, دَاعِيَة dāʕiya, كَاهِن kāhin, وَزِير wazīr
minister in Malay: menteri
minister in Indonesian: menteri
minister in Persian: کَاهِن kāhin, کَشِیش kašīš, کاهِن kâhen, کَشیش kašiš
minister in Thai: บาทหลวง bàat-lǔuang, รัฐมนตรี rát-tà-mon-dtrii
minister in Vietnamese: mục sư, linh mục, thừa tác viên, bộ trưởng
minister in Myanmar: ဘုန်းကြီး bhun:kri:, ဝန်ကြီး wankri:
Dhivehi: ވަޒީރު vazīru

Examples of minister in a sentence

In his sermon, the minister didn’t try to whitewash over the sins of his church.
I met with them several times. The government ministers met today to start the negotiations.
The prime ministers engaged in diplomatic amenities before signing the treaty.

All 40 example sentences with minister

Synonyms of minister

government minister

Forms of minister

Noun
plural	ministers
Verb
third-person singular present	ministers
present participle	ministering
past participle	ministered
past	ministered

Plural of minister: ministers

Origin of minister

From Middle English ministre, from Old French ministre, from Latin minister (“an attendant, servant, assistant, a priest's assistant or other under official”), from minor (“less”) + -ter; see minor. Doublet of Minorite.

Inherited from Middle English mynystren, from Middle French ministrer, from Old French menistrer, ministrer and Latin ministrō, from minister.

Words formed from minister

Phrases with minister

Home Minister

Questions about minister

What does minister mean?: Minister means a person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.
What is minister in Hindi?: Minister in Hindi is पादरी (pādrī), काहिन (kāhin), याजक (yājak). See Minister meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is minister?: Minister can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce minister?: Minister is pronounced /ˈmɪn.əˌstɚ/ (US).
What is the plural of minister?: The plural of minister is ministers.

Words near minister in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: minister (page history and authors); ਮੰਤਰੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-minister.ogg, en-uk-minister.ogg.

Cite this entry: “minister.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/minister. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.