Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (2)
1.
of or relating to a minister of religion or the minister's office;
- Example: "ministerial duties"2.
of or relating to a government minister or ministry;
- Example: "ministerial decree"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Ministerial \Min`is*te"ri*al\, a. [L. ministerialis: cf. F.
minist['e]riel. See Minister, and cf. Minstrel.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Of or pertaining to ministry or service; serving;
attendant.
[1913 Webster]
Enlightening spirits and ministerial flames.
--Prior.
[1913 Webster]
2. Of or pertaining to the office of a minister or to the
ministry as a body, whether civil or sacerdotal.
"Ministerial offices." --Bacon. "A ministerial measure."
--Junius. "Ministerial garments." --Hooker.
[1913 Webster]
3. Tending to advance or promote; contributive. "Ministerial
to intellectual culture." --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]
The ministerial benches, the benches in the House of
Commons occupied by members of the cabinet and their
supporters; -- also, the persons occupying them. "Very
solid and very brilliant talents distinguish the
ministerial benches." --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Official; priestly; sacerdotal; ecclesiastical.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
ministerial
adj 1: of or relating to a minister of religion or the
minister's office; "ministerial duties"
2: of or relating to a government minister or ministry;
"ministerial decree"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
67 Moby Thesaurus words for "ministerial":
abbatial, abbatical, accessory, adjuvant, administrating,
administrative, agential, agentival, agentive, ambassadorial,
ancillary, archiepiscopal, assistant, assisting, auxiliary,
bureaucratic, canonical, capitular, capitulary, churchly, clerical,
conducive, consular, diplomatic, directing, ecclesiastic,
employable, episcopal, episcopalian, evangelistic, executive,
facilitating, favoring, forwarding, fostering, handy, helpful,
helping, instrumental, intermediary, managing, mediating,
mediatorial, ministering, ministrant, nurtural, nutricial,
official, officiating, pastoral, plenipotentiary, prelatial,
prelatic, presiding, priest-ridden, priestish, priestly, promoting,
rabbinic, sacerdotal, serviceable, serving, subservient,
subsidiary, supervisory, ultramontane, useful
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
MINISTERIAL. That which is done under the authority of a superior; opposed
to judicial; as, the sheriff is a ministerial officer bound to obey the
judicial commands of the court.
2. When an officer acts in both a judicial and ministerial capacity, he
may be compelled to perform ministerial acts in a particular way; but when
he acts in a judicial capacity, he can only be required to proceed; the
manner of doing so is left entirely to his judgment. See 2 Fairf. 377; Bac.
Ab. Justices of the Peace, E; 1 Conn. 295; 3 Conn. 107; 9 Conn. 275; 12
Conn. 464; also Judicial; Mandamus; Sheriff.