minister meaning

• Noun: minister  ministu(r)
  1. A person authorized to conduct religious worship
     "clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant churches"
     - curate, minister of religion, parson, pastor, rector 
  2. A person appointed to a high office in the government
     "Minister of Finance"
     - government minister 
  3. A diplomat representing one government to another; ranks below ambassador
     - diplomatic minister 
  4. [Brit] The job of a head of a government department
  Verb: minister  ministu(r)
  1. Attend to the wants and needs of others
     "I have to minister to my mother all the time" 
  2. Work as a minister
     "She is ministering in an old parish"

  Derived forms: ministered, ministering, ministers

  See also: ministerial, ministrant, ministration

  Type of: attend, clergyman, diplomat, diplomatist, exec, executive, executive director, look, man of the cloth, public service, reverend, see, take care, work

  Encyclopedia: Minister

• 
  [Law]
  n. A person (by constitutional convention a member of either House of Parliament) appointed to government office by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. He may be a senior minister in charge of a department (normally styled Secretary of State but sometimes Minister), a senior minister without specific departmental responsibilities le.g. the lord Privy Seal or a Minister without Portfolio), or a junior minister assisting in departmental business (a Minister of State or a Parliamentary Secretary or Under-Secretary). In the Treasury the ministerial ranks are Chancellor of the Exchequer, Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, and Ministers of State.

• minister to:    minister to sb/sth ...
• cabinet minister:    Noun: cabinet mini ...
• diplomatic minister:    Noun: diplomatic m ...

Examples

1. the late prime minister attended the ceremony.
2. the minister issued a statement to the press.
3. the minister became rich through graft.
4. prime minister was supplanted by his rival.
5. the minister incurred the king 's disfavour.