missionary
Other forms: missionaries
A missionary is someone who travels to a foreign country to perform charitable work and, most commonly, to try to convert people to their faith.
Missionary can be a noun — the person who goes on a mission — or an adjective — the type of work done on such a trip. If your great-grandmother was a missionary for the Methodist church in Japan in the 1920s, her purpose there was to convince people to abandon their religion for Methodism. Presumably she did this missionary work because she thought it would save their souls.
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someone sent on a mission--especially a religious or charitable mission to a foreign countrysynonyms: missionerexamples:Pearl Sydenstricker BuckUnited States author whose novels drew on her experiences as a missionary in China (1892-1973)Pere Jacques MarquetteFrench missionary who accompanied Louis Joliet in exploring the upper Mississippi River valley (1637-1675)Apostle of the Gentiles(New Testament) a Christian missionary to the Gentiles; author of several Epistles in the New Testament; even though Paul was not present at the Last Supper he is considered an ApostleAlbert SchweitzerFrench philosopher and physician and organist who spent most of his life as a medical missionary in Gabon (1875-1965)Miguel Jose SerraSpanish missionary who founded Franciscan missions in California (1713-1784)Agnes Gonxha BojaxhiuIndian nun and missionary in the Roman Catholic Church (born of Albanian parents in what is now Macedonia); dedicated to helping the poor in India (1910-1997)type of:religious persona person who manifests devotion to a deity
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someone who attempts to convert others to a particular doctrine or programexamples:Apostle of Germany(Roman Catholic Church) Anglo-Saxon missionary who was sent to Frisia and Germany to spread the Christian faith; was martyred in Frisia (680-754)David LivingstoneScottish missionary and explorer who discovered the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls (1813-1873)Marcus WhitmanUnited States frontier missionary who established a post in Oregon where Christianity and schooling and medicine were available to Native Americans (1802-1847)Saint Francis XavierSpanish missionary and Jesuit who establish missionaries in Japan and Ceylon and the East Indies (1506-1552)types:Cyril, Saint Cyril, St. CyrilGreek missionary; the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is attributed to him (826-869)type of:
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relating to or connected to a religious missionsynonyms: missional
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Vocabulary lists containing missionary
Your mission? To learn these words derived from the Latin roots mit- and miss-, meaning "to send."
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