adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One who is sent on a mission. countable, uncountable

   "Near-synonym: emissary"

2. 2
   someone who attempts to convert others to a particular doctrine or program wordnet
3. 3
   A person who travels attempting to spread a religion or creed (Particularly used in context of Christianity). countable, uncountable

   "A missionary was just trying to convert me to his religion."

4. 4
   someone sent on a mission — especially a religious or charitable mission to a foreign country wordnet
5. 5
   A religious messenger. countable, derogatory, uncountable

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   The missionary position for sexual intercourse. uncountable

   "My boyfriend only cums during missionary."

7. 7
   Sexual intercourse in the missionary position. slang, uncountable

Adjective

1. 1
   Relating to a (religious) mission. not-comparable

Adjective

1. 1
   relating to or connected to a religious mission wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

apostleclergymanemissaryevangelistevangelisticminister

Example

More examples

"You can give it back whenever you want to as I bought that book for missionary work."

Etymology

From mission + -ary.

Related phrases

missionaries and cannibals problemmissionary bishopmissionary linguistmissionary positionmissionary rectormissionary zealmissionary-linguistmissionary positionsexual intercourse

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