Meaning & use
missionaries
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“missionaries” is a form of “missionary”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounpluralreligion
People sent to another place or community to teach their religion and often to provide education, health care or other help.
Grammar: Plural of missionary: the missionaries arrived in spring.
Patterns
- missionaries from somewhere
- missionaries to somewhere
Missionaries built the first school in the valley more than a century ago.
Medical missionaries treated patients in remote villages.
Many missionaries learn the local language before they begin their work.
nounpluralfigurative
People who work with great enthusiasm to spread a cause, belief or practice outside any church.
Grammar: Used figuratively, often with a noun or of: missionaries of free trade.
Patterns
- missionaries of something
The early software engineers acted like missionaries for open-source code.
Health missionaries visited homes to encourage clean water practices.
Word forms
| singular | missionary |
|---|
Common combinations
- Christian missionaries
- Christian missionaries founded hospitals in many countries.
- medical missionaries
- Medical missionaries worked through the epidemic.
- send missionaries
- The church sends missionaries abroad each year.
- missionaries and settlers
- Missionaries and settlers shaped the region's history.
- foreign missionaries
- Foreign missionaries introduced new crops.
Synonyms and how they differ
- evangelists
- Evangelists spread Christian teaching and need not travel to a foreign place, while missionaries are sent to another community.
- proselytizers
- Proselytizers try to convert others and usually sounds negative, unlike the more neutral missionaries.
- emissaries
- Emissaries carry a message or represent a group and need not be religious.
- preachers
- Preachers deliver sermons, often in their own community, which is narrower than missionary work.
Word family
- missionary noun
- one person sent on a mission
- mission noun
- an important task or the place missionaries work
- missionary adjective
- relating to missionary work, as in missionary zeal
- missionize verb
- to do missionary work (less common)
Commonly confused: missionaries or mercenaries? missionaries or missiles?
missionaries vs mercenaries
Mercenaries are soldiers who fight for pay, while missionaries are sent to spread a faith or cause.
missionaries vs missiles
Missiles are weapons; the similar spelling is only a coincidence.
Practice
In the nineteenth century, ____ traveled to the region to teach their faith and open schools.
Choose one answer.
Missionaries are people sent to spread a religion and often run schools. Mercenaries fight for pay, missiles are weapons, and merchants trade goods.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “missionaries”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.