MINISTRY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ministry mean? 

• MINISTRY (noun)
  The noun MINISTRY has 4 senses:

1. religious ministers collectively (especially Presbyterian)

2. building where the business of a government ministry is transacted

3. a government department under the direction of a minister of state

4. the work of a minister of religion

  Familiarity information: MINISTRY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MINISTRY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Religious ministers collectively (especially Presbyterian)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("ministry" is a kind of...):

priesthood (the body of ordained religious practitioners)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Building where the business of a government ministry is transacted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ministry" is a kind of...):

building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A government department under the direction of a minister of state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("ministry" is a kind of...):

government department (a department of government)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ministry"):

Foreign Office (the government department in charge of foreign relations)

Home Office (the government department in charge of domestic affairs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The work of a minister of religion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he is studying for the ministry

Hypernyms ("ministry" is a kind of...):

employment; work (the occupation for which you are paid)

 Context examples 

Thus, hope and expectation would be kept alive; none would complain of broken promises, but impute their disappointments wholly to fortune, whose shoulders are broader and stronger than those of a ministry.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

More recent data from the ministry indicate 11,119 notifications of microcephaly nationwide since November last year, with 60% of them reported in the Northeast region.

(Brazil: Babies of mothers infected with Zika will be monitored for up to 3 years, Agência Brasil)

I preferred utter loneliness to the constant attendance of servants; but Jane's soft ministry will be a perpetual joy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Candidates for this degree typically must complete course work in Greek or Hebrew, as well as systematic theology, biblical theology, ethics, homiletics and Christian ministry.

(Bachelor of Theology, NCI Thesaurus)

Over the same period, data gathered by the Brazilian ministry of health indicates that the number of deaths caused by colon cancer had gone up from 946,686 to more than a million, despite progress in cancer detection and treatment.

(Pesticides blamed for rise in colon cancer deaths, SciDev.Net)

A courtesy title for a person who supervises a number of local churches or a diocese, being in the Greek, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other churches a member of the highest order of the ministry.

(Bishop, NCI Thesaurus)

And, when the matter was debated in council, the wisest part of the ministry were of my opinion.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A year ago I was myself intensely miserable, because I thought I had made a mistake in entering the ministry: its uniform duties wearied me to death.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The king would be the most absolute prince in the universe, if he could but prevail on a ministry to join with him; but these having their estates below on the continent, and considering that the office of a favourite has a very uncertain tenure, would never consent to the enslaving of their country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

And he desired to know, Whether such zealous gentlemen could have any views of refunding themselves for the charges and trouble they were at by sacrificing the public good to the designs of a weak and vicious prince, in conjunction with a corrupted ministry?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)