Synonyms of missionary

missionary 1 of 2

noun

as in missioner

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.

Related Words

• missioner
• soldier
• priest
• monk
• apostle
• minister
• preacher
• bishop
• religious
• evangelist
• revivalist
• deacon
• clergyman
• friar
• scholar
• pastor
• student
• reverend
• monastic
• clerical
• ecclesiastic
• padre
• mendicant
• cleric
• proselytizer
• churchman
• chaplain
• deaconess
• prelate
• diocesan
• vicar
• divine
• pope
• archbishop
• priestess
• curé
• presbyter
• dean
• parson
• rector
• dominie
• abbot
• clerk
• father
• abbé
• advocate
• oblate
• confessor
• clergyperson
• shepherd
• monsignor
• partisan
• faithful
• curate
• supporter
• disciple
• protégé
• clergywoman
• loyalist
• Holy Joe
• devotee
• archpriest
• high priest
• high priestess
• champion
• worshipper
• zealot
• adherent
• enthusiast
• fan
• sectarian
• ideologist
• sky pilot
• acolyte
• admirer
• idolater
• follower
• ideologue
• pupil
• votary
• cultist
• backer
• convert
• liege man
• epigone
• votarist

Dissimilar Words

• renegade
• traitor
• defector
• apostate
• leader
• turncoat
• secular
• layman
• layperson
• lector
• lay reader
• coryphaeus

missionary

2 of 2

adjective

as in apostolic

relating to missionaries or their work

The church organizes missionary trips to a variety of countries.

Related Words

• apostolic
• evangelical
• papal
• religious
• pastoral
• episcopal
• diocesan
• ecclesiastical
• ecclesiastic
• pontifical
• patriarchal
• diaconal
• canonical
• churchly
• sacramental
• divine
• monastic
• mendicant
• conventual
• holy
• ministerial
• clerical
• rabbinic
• sacerdotal
• priestly
• monachal
• caliphal
• clerkly

Dissimilar Words

• secular
• lay
• temporal
• nonclerical

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of missionary

Noun

Leo, who spent two decades working as a missionary in Peru, would be intimately familiar with the plight of Indigenous peoples in mining areas and the environmental impact of extraction industries on the land. — ABC News, 20 June 2026

Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work. — Tim Sullivan, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026

Adjective

Early life and music career Colson Baker was born in Houston to missionary parents. — Alison Eldridge, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 June 2026

An American doctor was infected with Ebola while working with a medical missionary organization in Democratic Republic of Congo. — Michael Kaplan, CBS News, 27 May 2026