plural ministries
1
: ministration
- the ingenuity of destruction … had outrun the ministry of healing
- —Dixon Wecter
2
: the office, duties, or functions of a minister
- was well prepared for the ministry
4
: a person or thing through which something is accomplished : agency, instrumentality
- heroic believers become such by the ministry of heroic pain
- —Austin Phelps
5
: the period of service or office of a minister or ministry
- Many reforms were enacted during his ministry.
6
often capitalized
a
: the body of ministers governing a nation or state from which a smaller cabinet (see 1cabinet 3b) is sometimes selected
b
: the group of ministers constituting a cabinet
7 a
: a government department presided over by a minister
- the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
b
: the building in which the business of a ministry is transacted
