Ministerial

//ˌmɪnəˈstɪɹi.əl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of the mediaeval estate or caste of unfree nobles. historical

    "By the time of the Nibelungenlied the word was used to denote a wide variety of usually ecclesiastic or royal administrators, from the lowest, unfree ministerial to an enfeoffed judge."

  2. 2
    A meeting of government ministers from partner countries.

    "The NATO ministerial was attended by the defence ministers of all member states."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Related to a religious minister or ministry.
  2. 2
    Related to a governmental minister or ministry.

    "In over a quarter of a century of writing this column, there has been no end of scandals, mishaps, errors and general cock-ups resulting from ministerial incompetence."

  3. 3
    Having the power to wield delegated executive authority.
  4. 4
    Serving as an instrument or means (i.e., procedural or ancillary, not substantive). especially

    "Filling out the form under the direction of a lawyer is a ministerial task performed by a legal secretary."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to a government minister or ministry wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to a minister of religion or the minister's office wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
instrumentalabbatialabbaticalaccessoryadjuvantadministrating

Example

More examples

""Ignorance is slavery!" says the gigantic poster on the ministerial building."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ministeriel, equivalent to minister + -ial. Doublet of minstrel and ministerialis.

Related phrases

ministerial boxministerial codeprime ministerial

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.