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minister

noun
/ˈmɪn.əˌstɚ/US/ˈmɪn.ɪs.tə/UK/ˈmɪn.ə.stɚ/

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from ministrō
  2. derived from menistrer
  3. derived from ministrer
  4. inherited from mynystren

Definitions

  1. A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford…

    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.

  2. A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform…

    A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform some act on behalf of the Catholic Church.

  3. 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.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. In diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.

    2. A servant

      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: […]
      • And Moſes roſe vp, and his miniſter Ioſhua: and Moſes went vp into the mount of God.

    3. To attend to (the needs of)

      To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.

    4. To function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship.

    5. To afford, to give, to supply.

      • I do vvell beleeue your Highneſſe, and did it to miniſter occaſion to theſe Gentlemen, […]
      • ([…] 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)
      • We minister to God reason to suspect us.

The neighborhood

Derived

cabinet minister, catechetical minister, chief minister, crime minister, deputy first minister, ecclesial minister, e-minister, Eucharistic minister, ex-minister, extraordinary minister, first minister, foreign minister, interior minister, junior minister, lay minister, liturgical minister, ministerer, ministerless, ministerlike, ministerly, minister of justice, minister of state, minister-president, ministership, minister without portfolio, ministration, ministress, ordinary minister, prime minister, resident minister, shadow minister, stickit minister, subminister, superminister, underminister, unministerlike, unministered

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at minister. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01minister02layperson03cleric04clergy05priests06priest07clergyperson

A definitional loop anchored at minister. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at minister

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA