ministry
Pluralministries
- 1A government department responsible for a particular area of public affairs, usually headed by a minister or official of equivalent rank.
The finance ministry released its annual budget on Monday.
Several ministries were reorganized after the election.
UsageThe field comes after of (ministry of education) or first (the finance ministry); as a name it is capitalized: the Ministry of Health.
Similardepartment, office, bureau
Note
Its head holds it as a portfolio, and that head may carry another title, such as secretary of state. Each ministry covers one field of public affairs, named after of (the ministry of education) or before it (the finance ministry), and is capitalized as a name: the Ministry of Health. The word also names the whole body of ministers.
- 2Service, help or care given to others, especially spiritual or charitable work done as part of a religious calling.
The church's ministry includes visiting the sick and supporting refugees.
Volunteers carry out a ministry of comfort in local hospitals.
UsageOften ministry to or among people (ministry among the poor), or a ministry of + what is given: a ministry of comfort.
Note
Christian usage widens the word to service of any spiritual or charitable kind. The one who serves need not be ordained, or even human: Christians speak of the present ministry of the Holy Spirit.
- 3The work, office, or profession of a religious minister, such as a pastor or priest.
He left a career in law to enter the ministry and was ordained a priest at the age of forty.
His ministry focused on counseling young families across the parish.
UsageUsually the ministry in set phrases: enter the ministry, called to the ministry, retire from the ministry.
Similarpastorate, priesthood
- 4The entire group of government ministers, whether or not in cabinet, serving under a head of government such as a prime minister.
The prime minister reshuffled his ministry following the by-election defeat.
The entire ministry resigned when the coalition collapsed.
Similargovernment, cabinet, administration
Note
Here the word counts people rather than offices: every minister under one head of government, inside cabinet or out. A ministry in this sense has a lifespan. A premier may offer the outgoing ministry's resignation to the monarch or the monarch's representative and be asked to form a new one, so it is formed, reshuffled and dissolved, while the government department usually outlasts whoever runs it.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A ministry has a limited lifespan and its appointments can be terminated together. gg.gov.au
- Reappointment is possible, not automatic: a successor may instead be invited to form a government. In jurisdictions such as New South Wales, the Governor performs this role. parliament.nsw.gov.au
- A ministry can be reshuffled. pm.gov.au
- Departments usually survive changes of minister, but they too can be created, reorganised or abolished. gov.uk
Less common meaning
- 5The body of ordained clergy in nonapostolic Protestant churches, considered collectively.
Much of the denomination's ministry opposed the merger, and several pastors threatened to leave if it went ahead.
The Methodist ministry debated the new guidelines on ordination.
UsageOften the + a church's name: the Methodist ministry. It names the clergy themselves, not the work they do.
Similarclergy
Oppositelaity
Practice
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Origin
Latin "ministerium" passed into Old French as "menistere," and Middle English borrowed that word as "mynisterie." In its makeup it matches "minister" with the suffix "-y" added.