as in missioners
a person who is sent especially to a foreign country to do religious work (such as converting people to the religion or ministering to the sick)
The missionaries sent to the island were ultimately unsuccessful in converting the native residents.
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Recent Examples of missionaries
In a video message, Rubio discussed the faith of American revolutionaries and the role of Christian missionaries who aimed to spread the Gospel through the country's western expansion.
—
Melina Khan, USA Today, 18 May 2026
Both Hicks and Leo grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and served as missionaries in Latin America and are fluent in Spanish.
—Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 15 May 2026
Spanish missionaries first brought olives to Georgia in the mid-16th century, and 200 years later, olive trees were planted in the Trustees' Garden in Savannah, the first public agricultural experimental garden.
—Anne Byrn, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
In the late eighteen-hundreds, American missionaries in Korea converted thousands of people.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Marco Polo’s Il milione gained widespread popularity among 13th- and 14th-century Europeans, and accounts from missionaries and explorers were published for audiences who often financed these voyages.
—Suzanne Dundas, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
In the 1890s, LDS missionaries brought their faith to Tonga, an archipelago in the South Pacific.
—ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
My friends and family also have this problem — my parents especially, since their home is rather remotely located, which seems to draw missionaries in droves.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2026
These young female missionaries, dressed in white, have been sent into Canada to draw girls to Gilead’s cause.
—Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Melina Khan, USA Today, 18 May 2026
Both Hicks and Leo grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and served as missionaries in Latin America and are fluent in Spanish.
—Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 15 May 2026
Spanish missionaries first brought olives to Georgia in the mid-16th century, and 200 years later, olive trees were planted in the Trustees' Garden in Savannah, the first public agricultural experimental garden.
—Anne Byrn, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
In the late eighteen-hundreds, American missionaries in Korea converted thousands of people.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Marco Polo’s Il milione gained widespread popularity among 13th- and 14th-century Europeans, and accounts from missionaries and explorers were published for audiences who often financed these voyages.
—Suzanne Dundas, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
In the 1890s, LDS missionaries brought their faith to Tonga, an archipelago in the South Pacific.
—ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
My friends and family also have this problem — my parents especially, since their home is rather remotely located, which seems to draw missionaries in droves.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2026
These young female missionaries, dressed in white, have been sent into Canada to draw girls to Gilead’s cause.
—Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for missionaries
Noun
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That lack of sentimentality persists throughout — through the war wherein the architect gets shipped to the Eastern Front and his wife must find a way to survive an occupation in her house of Soviet soldiers, and right up to the final section.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2026
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Cabrera carefully handed bags of belongings to soldiers escorting a small group of families returning home to gather their things.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 May 2026
Noun
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The group, formed in 1970 to oppose Vatican II modernizations, has quietly become a parallel church operating globally with 733 priests, 264 seminarians and 50 nationalities despite decades of schism.—
Nicole Winfield,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026
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Leo met Thursday with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who — despite Fernández's letter — recently recommended that priests in his archdiocese use the German guidelines as a basis for their pastoral care.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 May 2026
Noun
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Two monks sustained serious injuries, and one monk lost part of his leg as a result of the crash.—
Jasmine Baehr,
FOXNews.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Missionaries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/missionaries. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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