minister
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A person trained to lead church services and care for people's spiritual needs
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
minuhsterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɪnəstɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Protestantism
A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.
Protestantism
A person authorized to conduct religious worship
“Clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches.”
government
A politician who heads a ministry
Roman Catholicism
A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform some act on behalf of the Catholic Church.
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.
verb
Attend to the wants and needs of others
“I have to minister to my mother all the time.”
intransitiveused with "to"
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.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (Protestantism) A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.
Used this way, minister is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Formal and ceremonial
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Authorizednoun
“Clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches.”
Attendverb
“I have to minister to my mother all the time.”
More ways to use minister
- “Clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The minister responsible for state finances.
A person authorized to conduct religious worship.
A diplomat having less authority than an ambassador.
A government minister for foreign relations.
A person appointed to a high office in the government.
A person who is a member of the cabinet.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Religious ministers collectively (especially Presbyterian).
Of or relating to a minister of religion or the minister's office.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.